


My Own Enemy

by Dracowolf



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-03
Updated: 2014-04-04
Packaged: 2017-12-17 13:12:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 27
Words: 63,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/867929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dracowolf/pseuds/Dracowolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After an incident that caused the team to break up, Bruce Banner is more than surprised to find Natasha on his doorstep asking for help. Learning that something is wrong with S.H.I.E.L.D. and that Clint is in trouble Bruce is asked to help. The incident from before though still plagues his mind though even as he reluctantly agrees.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Request

_It was always dark during those memories but the voices were always there. They started off as yelling that he couldn’t understand but he knew those voices somewhere in the back of his mind. He always tried to look around only to see nothing as the yelling continued. All at once the voice would grow softer, they were still close just hushed whispers near him that he couldn’t make out. He tried to hear what was going on with not luck. He wanted to ask what was happening but each time he tried nothing came out. Soon what sounded like a hushed question was asked and there was a long pause. He could hear his heart pound as the pause lasted only to have the silence broken by one clear, “No.” That’s when he started to fall and realized he was completely alone._

Bruce sat up on the couch causing the book on his chest to fall to the ground; he looked around his eyes wide with panic after waking up from that nightmare. He wasn’t used to anything waking him up out here he generally woke himself up when he felt like it but could never plan for someone knocking on the door. He had moved to a cabin in Alaska and people didn’t really visit him or know where he lived for that matter. He had some connections in the town but they rarely came up here unannounced, he was two hours away from the town after all. Generally he wouldn’t mind a knock on the door waking him up as this one had; he’d deal with whatever came and it would help him forget his nightmare. For all he knew it could have been someone sick that needed his attention since there weren’t any other nearby doctors, but this was different. If someone was dying then some folks from the town would come up but they’d be yelling for his help not knocking on the door. While the knocking was rushed there was no voice asking for his help, just the quick and powerful knocks on the wood and a pause in between.

He started to move towards the door slowly, it was generally a good rule for him not to open the door unless the person announced who they were but this was a special case. Outside was a blizzard, an extremely nasty one at that. Bruce Banner is many things, but he is not the type to leave anyone outside in a blizzard like this. However that doesn’t mean he wasn’t going to be cautious. The banging continued and started to become frantic, he couldn’t blame whoever it was after all it was freezing and at the point where being outside too long could kill. He knew full well that if he opened the door and left himself in the open it’d be easy for someone to hit him with a tranquilizer, this was something he didn’t intend on letting happen, at least not that easily. He opened the door just a crack to see who was out there, keeping himself positioned so as not to give anyone a good chance at attacking him. His foot tight against the door in case the person tried to force their way in once the door opened a bit. The crack was just enough for him to see out and that if someone tried anything he could back off. He figured he knew the forest well enough he could probably get around someone and get away, he knew this cabin better than anyone as well. He stared out into the wall of white snow that had become the outside world looking at the person who was knocking. The face he saw outside made his heart stop for a moment and caused him to move his foot away. He opened the door to get a better look and once he had that look his entire body froze. He wasn’t sure if it was shock or fear that caused him to freeze like that but he was now standing there, door open staring at the last person he expected to see.

“Bruce,” Natasha gave a weak smile to the man, “it’s been a while.” Bruce continued to stand there frozen expecting this all to be just some sort of illusion caused by the blizzard. “Bruce?”

He shook his head to snap himself out of it, if only for a moment. “Quickly come in,” as the shock passed his confusion started to outweigh his rage of seeing her out here like this. He stepped to the side to allow her into the cabin that was being kept warm by his fireplace.

“I know I’m the last person you want to see right now,” Natasha commented taking the words right of Bruce’s head which was buzzing with question over this. “But, I need your help. I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”

“No,” Bruce stated firmly he didn’t care what it was there was nothing that could make him listen at this point as far as he knew and cared.

“Clint’s in trouble,” Natasha replied watching the man tense at that.

Bruce didn’t answer at first allowing what had been said to go around in his head a few times as he walked over to the fireplace. He tended to the fire, adding another log to it until it became a bit larger to keep the cabin warm. “What’s S.H.I.E.L.D. doing about it?” He had never trusted S.H.I.E.L.D. it always seemed like every time they needed him they just needed his other half and then just discarded him. He figured that Clint was their agent they had to be trying to do something their answer couldn’t be: go get Hulk.

“They’re the ones who arrested him,” Natasha replied, “They said he’s a terrorist or something. Fury’s gone somewhere without telling anyone and the new guy… I swear he’s nuts. He’s been making changes, dangerous ones. Our security is being lowered, good agents are going missing, everything is a mess.”

“So why are you here instead of talking to anyone else? I’m not exactly the go to guy for breaking someone out of prison,” Bruce replied, “Last time I checked you’re good at that all on your own.”

“They’re after me too Bruce,” Natasha moved closer to the fire constantly aware of the distance between herself and the man. She knew if she wasn’t careful he could go over the edge easily and then it was over for both of them. “Steve and Tony are easy for them to find, and they’re constantly being watched. They’re basically under S.H.I.E.L.D. house arrest. Thor went off somewhere so finding him is a bit hard for me.”

“That doesn’t explain why you came to me,” Bruce replied simply, “Still not the guy to really go to for this type of stuff. You’ve got to have connections better suited to helping you with your problems.”

“They brought Ross in,” Natasha watched Bruce stiffen again this time at just the name. “They’ll be coming for you sooner or later, and I’d say probably sooner.”

“Did you lead them here?” Bruce hissed starting to get very angry, very quickly. He had been tricked more than once before, he let himself help others including Natasha only to be lied to. He didn’t want to let it happen again.

“No, only a few agents knew about this place, none of them have said anything to anyone. I made sure of that,” Natasha replied, “They were the most trusted members of S.H.I.E.L.D. all of them are loyal to Fury. However it won’t take them long to find us, not with the resources they have. We were all close before that entire incident, I had to at least warn you and hope that maybe you could forget about that incident, at least to help your friend.”

“Forget about it?” Bruce suddenly yelled right on the edge of letting his other half out, “Forget about what happened? That must be really easy for you to do but for me it’s not going to happen.”

“I know what happened was wrong,” Natasha replied, “I regret it, Clint regrets it, everyone involved with that mess regrets it but are you really going to abandon us to S.H.I.E.L.D. and whatever Ross is up to?”

“Don’t see why I shouldn’t,” Bruce replied crossing his arms over his chest, “Because you have a really funny way of showing regret about all of that. I can look after myself.”

“That’s not the Bruce Banner I stood beside,” Natasha replied, “the one I remember would have done the right thing. He would have known there’s something really wrong about this entire situation and he would come to help. The one I remember would let the past be, if it meant saving people who needed him.”

Bruce didn’t reply, he personally disagreed but at the same time he couldn’t help but stare at the fire and think over everything that had been said: Clint in trouble with S.H.I.E.L.D., Tony and Steve basically under house arrest, Thor gone, Fury gone, some new guy in charge of S.H.I.E.L.D. that was also friends with Ross and his own history with everyone. He forced his anger back down, keeping it away from him as he went over his options. He turned his head towards Natasha noticing how shaken she was about all of this, that was a very bad sign and he knew it. “Do you have a plan?”

“Not in the least,” Natasha shook her head, “they’ll know that I’m coming and they’ll be prepared for me.”

"Let me guess, they’re not prepared for Hulk?” Bruce asked rolling his eyes figuring where this was going.

“No, they’re ready for the Hulk. If they weren’t then I’d have a plan,” Natasha replied, “They’re not ready for Bruce Banner though. I figured the two of us can come up with something. I have the tricks and I’m fairly sure you can top them if you put your mind to it. But it will take both of us to pull this off.”

Bruce shook his head and sat down on his couch with a sigh. He looked at the floor, “This isn’t anything I’m good at. I can’t plan a way to get Clint out of there.”

Natasha sat down beside him watching his reactions carefully, “It’ll take both of us to plan it, but without you I don’t have a chance.”

Bruce took a deep breath and looked at her, the rage he felt before melted away completely as he did so, he knew that face. Fear, sadness, anger, betrayal, tiredness, everything Bruce had ever felt was right there. Everything he was used to was shown in her eyes and he knew how much that hurt. “Alright, what do we have to work with?”

“I only have my basic equipment, I had to leave in a hurry,” Natasha replied and Bruce gave a nod since it was understandable. “However there’s a large S.H.I.E.L.D. warehouse I know about, but it’s well known so unless we’re going to rob it and hope we don’t get caught I don’t have much. It would contain a lot of helpful equipment and have any tools we need.”

“I don’t have really anything helpful,” Bruce replied, “Other than some camping and fishing gear. Where is the warehouse?”

“New Mexico, there are a few smaller ones with less gear scattered around but it’s taking a risk on what equipment we’d fine there. I suppose taking a chance is better than going across the country,” Natasha replied.

“We’ll go to New Mexico,” Bruce stated simply, “Once the blizzard calms down of course. For now you look like you could use some rest. There’s a bed room upstairs, second door on the left. Go make yourself comfortable.”

“Thanks,” Natasha replied softly, “Do you have a plan to get us to New Mexico?”

“Yes,” Bruce nodded, “We’ll work out the details in the morning. Go get some sleep, you need it. Leave your jacket here so it can dry.”

Natasha nodded taking off the jacket that had become damp from the snow melting she set it down off to the side. She walked up the stairs with each step relief started to wash over her. Bruce had agreed to help despite everything that had happened between them. For one night at least she’d be safe away from the entire mess until morning. She followed Bruce’s instructions to the bedroom. Opening the door she could tell instantly that it was Bruce’s bedroom, due to the books scattered around, rather than a spare. It made sense; he probably was never expecting visitors to stay over for the night. She turned back heading to the living room of the cabin again. The top the stairs overlooked everything and from there she could see Bruce laying on the couch with a blanket pulled over himself. Natasha wanted to wake him and tell him that she’d take the couch since she was the one asking for his help but at the same time it was rather clear Bruce was stubborn about these things. She shook her head with a slight smile and returned to the bedroom lying down on the bed. She stared at the wooden ceiling wondering how the others were holding up. _Hang in there, we’re coming._ She rolled onto her side and let sleep quickly overtake her. Her body was worn out from the journey and her mind exhausted from covering her tracks in every way she knew how to keep them safe and despite how hard it was to get here, it was only going to get harder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it begins. Most of this story is done and saved though I'll still keep updates distant just to see what happens. I decided to put the first chapter up here just to see what happens and on the suggestion from a friend. Two warnings, one being that the tag is correct the villain used is an original character adapted to play the role I needed, I'm sorry I couldn't find a Marvel villain that fit the role that I knew enough about. However you won't see much of him until later in the story. Second The Hulk used in this Fanfic is using the comic back-story and is very childlike, sentence fragments and speaking in third person will be coming.
> 
> Other characters will make an appearance as time goes on.


	2. Rick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce and Natasha get a visitor.

It took a while for her to remember where she was and why she was there when Natasha woke up. She wasn’t sure what time it was but could easily tell by the light streaming through the window she had slept longer than she wanted to. Her mind went to what had happened to lead her to Bruce’s cabin. Her stomach turned at the thought that she had been sleeping while everyone else was in trouble. There was no telling what would happen to Capt or Tony, eventually this new S.H.I.E.L.D. would make life harder for them. Far worse was the thought of what could have happened to Clint, what they could possibly be doing to him. She bit her lip at the thoughts and quickly got up, intending on trying to convince Bruce that they had to move fast. They had to figure out some sort of plan, hoping that would set her mind at ease just a bit. She made her way downstairs, only to notice that Bruce was nowhere to be seen. The couch was empty with no sign of the blanket. She ran her hand over it to find it was cold. Her attention turned to the fire which was nearly dead and hadn’t been tended to in a while. Natasha could feel her heart sink, yet at the same time after everything that happened she couldn’t blame him for running again. She stared at the ground, feeling more betrayed than before after trusting Bruce would have stuck it out and helped like he said. She debated chasing after him, after all they had better chance sticking together then on their own and maybe get him to do something if they spent more time together. It was clear though that if he ran so easily without showing any signs of intending to do so or saying anything then he wasn’t going to help her. Her blood started to boil that the thought of everything, the last plan she had ran for it leaving her completely alone again against everything.

She went to grab her jacket from where she left it preparing to move out, there wasn’t any time for her to wait around. She moved towards the front door only to hear the sound of footsteps coming towards the front door. Her hand froze only a few inches from the handle as her heart pounded. _They couldn’t have found me, not now._ Her hand instantly went for her handgun ready to fight her way out, she figured they’d out number her but if she took a few of them out and ran for the forest she could make her way through the wilderness and lose them in the denser area or at least get into a position to pick them off. She started to back away from the front door thinking of other ways out of the cabin. There was the back door, a few windows on the first floor, at least one on the second. The windows didn’t open so if she went out that way she’d draw attention quickly from the noise of breaking them. The back door seemed like a logical choice but chances were if it was S.H.I.E.L.D. coming for her they’d covered the back door, really they probably surrounded the entire place. Making a run for it through the front seemed like the best chance in that case unless she hid in the cabin and picked off anyone who came in but sooner or later they’d overwhelm her. She considered tossing something out one of the back windows away from the front door to draw attention to give her a better chance. Settling on the plan she started to look around for something that would be heavy enough to go through then a slight rattle from the front door caught her attention. She saw the handle start to turn, now out of time to think of better plans or to try the one she had come up with she aimed her gun as the door started to open.

“Bruce, you here?” The voice was male, certainly young and certainly not a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, they were smart enough not to announce themselves at least she hoped they were. Running from a government organization that had files on her and resources to track her down was one thing but if they were also this stupid then she’d just be insulted. The door opened all the way to show a young man, early twenties at best, walking in. He froze at the sight of Natasha, “Woah, certainly not Bruce. Sorry must have gotten the place wrong. Really didn’t mean to intrude.” He had noticed the gun, “Mind not shooting me, seriously I wasn’t trying to do anything, just thought this was somewhere else. I’ll leave.” The brown haired boy started to turn and leave.

“Rick Jones,” Natasha was able to identify the man quickly from what she had read in Bruce’s file and the images she had seen. She remembered Bruce speaking fondly of the boy despite how the two had met. She'd heard he spent some time Captain America training but she didn't ever officially meet him before he left. “You’re the one Bruce Banner saved from the gamma bomb. What are you doing here?”

Rick’s body stiffened at the mention of his name and Bruce his stare went from apologetic to a cautious glare, “How do you know that? And what’s it to you?”

Natasha for a brief moment felt frustrated that Rick hadn’t answered her question but instead went to questioning her. She remembered the file though; Rick had traveled with Bruce for a long time. He knew not to trust others easily when it came to the safety of his friend. “I’m Natasha Romanov, former agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and an Avenger.” She went into the process for identifying herself, hoping it wouldn’t cause the boy to run, “I came here to ask Bruce for help.”

Rick’s glare went from cautious to anger, “Natasha Romanov? You’re one of the ones who-“ Rick cut himself off from his anger as he put things together. Clearly Bruce had told him of what happened when he left the group, “You have some nerve coming here to ask for his help after everything.”

Natasha nodded, “I know. But the issue concerned him as well.”

“Yeah right, let me guess they sent you to finally track him down because they’re worried about Hulk getting out,” Rick growled, “newsflash Bruce has been handling everything just fine. Everything except for those nightmares you and your lover boy caused.”

“Rick,” Natasha glared at the boy, “I know.” She didn’t know about the nightmares but they weren’t hard to guess at. “I’m more than aware of what happened because I was there. I know what happened, I know why it happened and I know how damn hard we all tried to fix it. I refused to track down Bruce after everything that happened out of respect for what he asked when I last saw him. Yes, I was eventually told he was here but that information was kept to only a few people and none of us ever came after him or ever were concerned about his control over his anger. I’m only here because I needed his help, he’s the only one I knew I could trust with this and because it would put him in danger too.”

Rick remained silent for a long time but never flinched away from the glare or what Natasha said. He clearly wasn’t happy about the situation though, “Fine. You win. I believe you came here to ask for help and not to track him down for your high and mighty leaders who give crappy orders. Now, what’s this all about?”

Natasha shook her head with a sigh looking at the ground, “It doesn’t matter now. Bruce said last night that he would help me but this morning he’s gone. No offense but this problem is a bit over your head.”

“Oh sure this problem must be over my head since I spent years traveling with the Hulk, clearly I can’t handle myself.” Rick waited for a moment, crossing his arms over his chest then asked, “He said he’d help you?” Rick relaxed a bit as he thought about that, “If that’s true and you think he’s gone, then you really don’t know Bruce then. He doesn’t break his word, unlike some people.”

Natasha nodded a bit to answer Rick’s question but didn’t say out loud about her distrust in Bruce since he was clearly missing, at least for now. “You never answered my question, what are you doing here?” Natasha restated not bothering to defend herself from the obvious jab at her. She didn’t need to defend herself or apologize to Rick, he wasn’t involved and she had done enough of that.

Rick remained cautious, knowing that Natasha could be trying to get information out of him. “I don’t plan on answering it. I know better than to trust a spy, Bruce taught me that much. If what you said is true then Bruce will tell you why I’m here.”

“Well Bruce isn’t exactly here,” Natasha pointed out growing frustrated, “and there’s no telling on if he’ll be coming back or not.”

“It’s good to know you think so little of me,” the voice startled her as Bruce walked in from the back door with some logs in his arms. He had entered while the two were talking which covered up the sound of his entrance. “But as it turns out Agent Romanov, I don’t back out of my word and I don’t abandon others easily. I was out getting more wood for the fire. Rick’s here at my request.”

“Your request? You sent a message to Rick? Don’t you think people will be looking for that?” Natasha wanted to smack the man over the head for this, sending a message to Rick generally would be careless since chances were Rick was being monitored full time.

“Yes, my request,” Bruce nodded, “Of course the message wasn’t sent directly to him, it was encrypted and went through a few others before reaching him. I believe by the time it reached him it told him to pick up some things for his sick uncle that lives up here near the town.”

“Something like that,” Rick nodded in agreement, “and caring deeply about my uncle I came right away after stopping to pick up some equipment.”

“Few items that wouldn’t even raise suspicions,” Bruce added, “A few toys, some appliances, some tools, nothing big, nothing dangerous and thus there will be no red flags. Even then we’re not staying here long.”

“I forgot what it’s like to work with you,” Natasha gave a slight smile with a shake of her head, “Got everything figured out then?”

“Not in the least,” Bruce replied, “I just don’t want to be tracked while we figure out the rest. By that I mean, I figure out how to get us there. You figure the way inside, we get more equipment, you lead us out and I get us far away and out of tracking distance for them. Then we figure out where Clint is.”

“If you’re going to a S.H.I.E.L.D. warehouse won’t there be some computer?” Rick questioned, “Just for that part couldn’t you hack into their system and find where they’re holding him?”

“We could but they’d know we did and move him while setting a trap for us at the other location,” Natasha pointed out.

“Then we’ll do it,” Bruce shrugged, “You know S.H.I.E.L.D. and a lot of their bases right? If they’re going to move a high risk prisoner like Clint you can probably guess how and where. We’ll have a better chance getting him while they’re on the move. First off I’ll go make some breakfast. Rick can you bring the stuff inside so I can start working on it?”

“Sure thing boss,” Rick nodded heading back out towards his truck with the items he had brought.

Natasha stood there awkwardly for a moment before deciding to go help Rick since she had her jacket on. She put her gun away yet was ready to pull it out at a moment’s notice since she wasn’t fully convinced that S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn’t show up. She didn’t say anything as she helped grab some of the stuff to bring it in.

“Sorry,” Rick commented after a moment, starting to stack boxes of what seemed to be electronic toys, “sort of not willing to trust someone easily when it comes to Bruce. More so a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, and of course considering your history with him.”

“Former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent,” Natasha corrected, “I understand, you had good reasons not to trust me given everything that happened.”

“So Clint’s in trouble?” Rick questioned, “I mean that’s what it sounds like in there.”

“Yeah…” Natasha’s voice was soft but she gave a nod and continued on, “They got him. We were called in for what should have been a normal meeting, just a time to speak to the new director. Everything didn’t go as planned and we were trying to get out. In the last moments Clint made sure I could get out but it meant he couldn’t.”

“You left him?” Rick questioned, “I always liked Clint, at least when I heard about him. He sounds like a nice guy in Bruce’s stories of everyone.”

“I didn’t leave him!” Natasha couldn’t control her anger at the boy who shrunk back from the yell. She realized what had happened in the moment of letting her emotions get the better of her. She forced them back and shook her head and repeated softly, “I didn’t leave him, not by choice. It was forced. Come on let’s get this stuff inside.” She turned not wanting to answer any of Rick’s questions heading back through the snow to the cabin with her arms full. Once inside she set down everything, the smell of eggs, toast and bacon had filled the cabin from where Bruce was cooking in the kitchen. She set the boxes down on the table in the living room unsure of where he wanted them and moved towards the smell. She saw Bruce nearly done with everything surprised at how fast it had gone, or perhaps the chat with Rick had taken longer than she thought, it did feel like ages considering the topic. “It smells nice.”

“Almost ready too,” Bruce commented back feeling a bit awkward to be chit-chatting with someone he honestly hadn’t wanted to see again.

Natasha sat down at the table, one thing she knew very well from before was to not get in Bruce’s way when he was working on anything. After a bit she couldn’t help but state, “Bruce… I didn’t leave Clint behind.” It seemed she was more trying to convince herself than anything else. A question gnawed at the back of her mind and she had to say it out loud, get it out there so she had an answer, “I had no choice. He risked his life and forced me to go. We have to find him alive… They’ll keep him alive as long as he can be useful to them right?”

Bruce nodded as he started to plate everything, “I know you didn’t leave him behind. The two of you don’t seem to leave each other behind easily. As for your question on if they’ll kill him to be honest I’m not entirely sure. However, I would think that they wouldn’t kill him until they find us. Right now he’s probably their best lead on finding you and the best way to trap you. Hence he’s more useful to them alive rather than dead.”

Natasha nodded expecting that answer from Bruce, it was what she was almost hoping that they wouldn’t kill him, even if Bruce wasn’t completely sure. Rick soon walked in with a slight grin on his face despite things that were going on, he was naturally happy. He took his seat while Bruce brought the food over. At the sight of only two plates Natasha raised an eyebrow only to see Bruce walk out of the room and over towards living area. Rick spoke up once Bruce left, “He tends to hate to eat when he’s thinking. Generally have to force him but can’t even get him to consider it until after some time has passed. Best to just let him work at first.” The two didn’t bother to say anything as they ate. Natasha’s stomach twisted uncomfortably as she kept wondering if all of this would lead to everyone getting caught and this new S.H.I.E.L.D. winning.

It had taken several hours before Bruce was ready to set out. He had spent most of his time gutting the appliances and toys and constructing something out of them. It was extremely painful for Natasha to wait but Bruce eventually had called both her and Rick over. “We’ll need to go see someone to get these to work.” He held up the two gadgets he had been working on, “shouldn’t take long. Rick do you think you can give us a ride? We need to get to Canada safely.”

“No problem, plenty of room in the truck,” Rick nodded in agreement.

“Good shouldn’t take us too long. We’ll head out as soon as we’re packed,” Bruce grinned, he looked over at Natasha who wasn’t keen on taking more time to help the others but she had to  trust this was the way to pull this off. She had asked for the help, she might as well accept what happens.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: How Natasha ended up on the run and how Clint got caught.


	3. The Flashback

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha and Clint attempt to escape S.H.I.E.L.D. when everything goes wrong.

The two were walking down the hall of the Helicarrier after receiving a message to come in for a meeting. They were instructed that the meeting would take place in one of the lesser used rooms in the lower levels of the carrier. The hallways in these areas were never as clean or as nice as the upper since no one really went down to them unless they had to. “What do you think this one’s about?”

“Just another mission and an introduction to the new guy,” Natasha replied to Clint as the two continued down the halls.

Clint stuck his tongue out in response, “Ugh new guy, I don’t like new guys. How did a new guy instantly become the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.? Fury goes missing for a week and some random guy off the streets gets pick to be leader? Anyone else would have been a better choice than some random guy who none of us have heard of or met. Why has it even taken him this long to meet with us? Shouldn’t that have been day one instead of two weeks in?”

“Are you suggesting you would have been a better choice?” Natasha questioned raising an eyebrow.

“Well yes and no,” Clint shrugged, “I’d hate the long hours and the paper work. Not to mention not getting out into the field when I wanted. However I would get that chair and that’s a really nice chair. Plus I could boss people around, like you and that could be fun.”

“Uh-huh, good luck with that. I’d give you two weeks before you lost your hair from the stress,” Natasha teased as they rounded a corner. The hallways were completely abandoned. Natasha was used to using the larger meeting room near Fury’s room but new Director meant new rules. “How long would it take before you started wearing the eye-patch?”

“The hair loss would be a crime against humanity,” Clint replied with a smirk. “Second day for the eye-patch. Can’t be a proper Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. without an eye-patch after all! You think this new guy is going to be one of those by the books type?”

“More than likely,” Natasha grumbled. The agents who were strictly by the books were painful enough, a Director doing that is far worse. “I can’t believe he brought Ross in.” By the end of his first week the new Director had made an alliance with General Thunderbolt Ross and it seemed like he would clear the general to go hunt down Bruce Banner.

“You think we should warn Bruce about that?” Clint questioned softly, “I know he wouldn’t really want to hear from us but… He should know.” They hadn’t spoken to Bruce since the incident a few years back which caused him to leave.

Natasha thought about what Clint said knowing there were risks with every answer. She spotted a camera ahead of her on the roof and remembered that no matter what they’d be caught on film and anything they said would put Bruce in more danger. “No, he chose to leave and he can take care of himself. Besides we don’t even know where he is. Picking up his trail to track him now would be next to impossible.” She glanced at Clint out of the corner of his eye hoping he remembered where they were. He nodded in understanding, feeling like a complete idiot from bringing it up  and risking everything. The two approached the room they had told to meet in. The door was locked with the usual key pad beside it for S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel to use to get in. Natasha got out her I.D. card and swiped it punching in her security pin after. The door didn’t unlock instead the screen flashed a red _“Denied”_. “Weird,” Natasha muttered glaring at the screen, if she could kill it she probably would.

“Let me try,” Clint replied, “Sometimes these older things just glitch for certain members.” Clint swiped his own card and entered his pin only to be met with the same denied. “What do you mean denied?” Clint yelled at the machine then shook his head, “Well clearly some higher power does not want us to come to this meeting. Let’s go back upstairs and scare some of the new agents.”

“You realize that means walking all the way back up only for them to tell us to come back after calling tech support,” Natasha pointed out.

“Right, I really don’t want to make this trip again,” Clint grumbled, “Stairs are the bane of my existence more so when you don’t let me use a grappling arrow to get down and up.”

“If I have to take the stairs so do you,” Natasha replied getting out her cell and going through the contacts.

“I’d let you use it if only so you didn’t have to deal the stairs either,” Clint argued then gave a grin, “Well that and it’s a faster way to get back to our rooms for some fun.”

“Also leaves a dent in the Helicarrier,” Natasha replied, “Fury would kill us when he got back.”

“Point taken. Why does this new guy want us to meet in this room anyways? Does he hate our guts?” Clint questioned, “Can’t we pull seniority on him and say to meet in a better room?”

“Unfortunately, no we can’t. We need to give this guy some sort of good first impression. At least until we know if he deserves it or not,” Natasha continued to scroll through her contacts finding tech support and calling.

“Still think he should answer to us,” Clint griped, “I don’t wanna make a good first impression he’s not made a good first impression on me by making us walk down here and the entire Ross thing.” Clint waited for a bit glaring at the door, “Stupid door.” He kicked it to let some of his frustration out. The door opened at the kick confusing both Natasha and Clint, “Huh…” Natasha lowered her phone with a frown, the line was busy and generally it wasn’t supposed to be busy. “This seem odd to you?” Clint poked his head inside the room looking around but not entering. It looked like a normal meeting room but no one else was around.

Natasha looked down the hallways noticing no one else coming, “Extremely. Generally when you kick stuff something tries to kill you.”

“Haha, very funny, you know what I mean,” Clint lightly elbowed Natasha, “What time were we supposed to meet this new guy down here?”

“1pm,” Natasha replied, “It’s 1:15 before you ask. So in theory someone else should be here or we should see someone coming down the hall. Or hear footsteps coming, anything really.”

“Really don’t like where this is going,“ Clint commented, “I’m starting to think coming back would be a better idea even if it does mean stairs.”

“Starting to agree with you,” Natasha nodded looking at the room again then at Clint, “Come on let’s head up top and see what’s going on.”

_“Agent Romanov, Agent Barton, please step into the room so we can begin this meeting,”_ A male voice came over the intercom inside the room.

“Why do we need to have a meeting in this room if you’re just going to do it over the intercom? Seems kind of like you’re wasting our time,” Clint called out refusing to step into the room, “Not to mention I’m not stepping into a room where I had to kick the door to get it to open. Considering it keeps denying me everything else. Plus I was promised snacks and I do not see any snack on that table.”

“We weren’t promised snacks,” Natasha raised an eyebrow at Clint, “Not complaining about it but we weren’t.”

“It’s a S.H.I.E.L.D. meeting with the two of us, when have we ever been called into one and not gotten snacks?” Clint questioned back, “Fury knew about needing to leave snacks out for us. There’s a system that needs to be followed. Granted I think Fury said that because it’s harder for me to shoot things around the room when I’m eating. Not impossible mind you. You’d think someone would tell this new guy about snacks though.”

“Point taken, you do tend to shut up when you’re eating,” Natasha replied.

The voice didn’t respond to the two. After a moment there was the sound of footsteps heading down the hall, and certainly a lot of them wearing heavy gear by the sounds they made. “That’s not a good sound,” Clint commented, “That’s a very bad sound unless they are carrying a battering ram to destroy this door so we don’t get locked in.”

“I highly doubt they’re carrying a battering ram,” Natasha replied, “Our tech support tends to be a little bit smarter than that. Let’s get out of here.” Natasha pulled out her gun ready for a fight but knew this wasn’t a fight she wanted to have, not with how heavy those steps were or how many there were.

“Great let’s see our choices are the room, running towards these guys or going away from them towards a dead end,” Clint commented, “I don’t like our odds here.” He tried to remember the layout of the lower level. He knew there were hidden crawl spaces on all of the floors that connected to the vents. He had been in them many times before but he never had much of a reason to go to the lower levels so finding an entrance was not exactly easy.

“Well kind of obvious something is not right with S.H.I.E.L.D.,” Natasha replied, “We need to get up to the hanger and off this thing. As long as we’re on the Helicarrier we’re in trouble until we figure out what’s going on.”

“Sounds like a plan just need to find our way up without getting caught,” Clint grabbed Natasha’s hand and started to run down the hall heading straight for the dead end, anything to put more distance between themselves and the group heading for them. Once at the dead end he started to push against the metal panels of the wall, one by one. The first few didn’t budge but Natasha didn’t question what he was doing she kept he gun aimed down the hall waiting for oncoming guards to turn the corner. Clint finally felt one of the panels budge just slightly when he pushed against it. He smirked and pushed harder against it though the sound of metal on metal filled the hallway as he did so. Eventually he had opened it enough to reveal the crawl space which hadn’t been used in a long while. “Let’s go, you first.” He nodded for Natasha to head in which she did without question. Clint was right behind her forcing the crawl space door shut again hoping it would slow those after them down. “Any chance you have a light or we’re going to be blind.”

“Yeah I got it,” Natasha nodded reaching into one of her pockets to get out a small pocket light. She pulled herself through the crawl space ahead of Clint. It was dusty making the air hard to breathe with every move. Even with the light it was hard to see where the two were going. Natasha could feel Clint right behind her and kept resisting the urge to look over her shoulder to see if they were being followed.

“Keep moving, we can beat them if we move fast enough,” Clint encouraged. The two followed the crawl space until it reached what seemed like a dead end but it quickly became apparent that it went up instead of forward. The two were able to stand up in the tight spaced but were forced to press close together, something they really didn’t mind though the circumstances weren’t exactly what they wanted.

Natasha thought back to their conversation on grappling arrows but knew Clint didn’t have his bow, generally wouldn’t need one during a meeting after all. “Any idea where we are?” She questioned.

“Yeah,” Clint nodded, “I can recognize some of the ways it branched off.” He stared up noticing all the openings to head to different floors, “If we head tow floor up we’ll be fine. Getting up there, that’s another challenge all together.” He stood there looking for a moment longer then looked at Natasha with a smile, “You first. I’ll be right behind you. I’m used to climbing these so if you slip I can make sure you don’t fall.”

“Your lack of faith in my climbing ability saddens me Agent Barton,” Natasha teased but didn’t argue the decision at all. Biting the flashlight to hold it she started climb pushing against the sides and inching her way up towards the floor Clint mentioned. It took a while, longer than she wished it did. Her arms and legs hurt wanting to stop as she continued to push against the metal with them. She could hear Clint following as she pulled herself onto the floor of the vent he spotted. Taking a moment to catch her breath and let her body relax if only for a second. Clint pulled beside her taking his own moment before nodding down the path and whispering directions to her. Now that they were in a main vent Natasha put the flash light away relying on the minimal light that the vent openings provided. She followed the directions carefully not wanting to make any more noise than they already were. After a moment she realized they were heading for the private quarters rather than the hanger but she didn’t argue with it, they needed some of their stuff after all if this was going as downhill as it seemed. To be honest she was surprised that the crawl space connected to the vents like this, looking at Clint questioning it.

“All of the crawl spaces and vents attach at some point, it’s why the ventilation system sucks. Then again I don’t think Fury planned them to be used as effective vents. Let’s just say not many places have vents that can hold one person, let alone two,” Clint whispered looking down into his room. Two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in heavy armor were going through all of his stuff, which didn’t exactly make him happy. He could see his bow and quiver by the door. “Well that’s a problem.”

Natasha nodded, “I got this.” With that Natasha opened the vent and dropped down into the room. A quick sweeping kick knocked the two agents off their feet fiving her time to find the weak spots in the armor, mainly around the joins. A few quick and hard shots disabled the joints of the Agents making it easy to get a final blow in to knock the two out. She smirked up at the vent where Clint watched with interest, “Care to join me?”

Clint grinned in response and jumped down giving a half-hearted clap, “Very nice.” He grabbed some of his stuff, mainly his bow and quiver. “Let’s get your stuff.” As he said that an alarm started the blare. The two looked at each other panic on both of their faces, the alarm meant the Helicarrier would be locked down soon.

“Or not,” Natasha replied, “Come on we need to get to the hanger and get off of here. We are not staying here and living in the vents.”

“You make it sound like that would be a bad thing,” Clint joked but pulled himself back up into the vents offering Natasha his hand to help her in after him. “Come on, I can get us there quickly just stay behind me.” He started to quickly move towards the hanger.

The hanger was covered in agents trying to lock things down as the alarms continued to blare. “Damn,” Natasha muttered, “How are we getting out of here?”

“Fury had an emergency escape jet, he takes the secret spy thing more seriously than anyone I’ve met,” Clint commented pointing to a corner of the hanger where it looked like a large metal box, “It’s in there. No one ever questions a giant metal box here. Even in lock down you’re supposed to be able to use it if you know the codes.”

“Great, do you have the codes?” Natasha questioned.

“In theory both of our codes should work,” Clint replied, “Sometimes when I hang around in vents, I get to little important facts while around Fury’s office.”

“He talked out loud about out codes working on the jet but didn’t tell us?” Natasha raised an eyebrow.

“I never said he was sane,” Clint replied, “He was talking to Coulson about it. I don’t know why he didn’t tell us himself.”

“Would have been nice to know considering our situation,” Natasha grumbled.

“Well we can get answers later right now let’s just be thankful we do know,” Clint replied, “now come on we’ll stick to the sides. We should be able to sneak around if we’re careful looks like the agents are more concerned with locking everything down instead of finding us.” He dropped out of the vent silently and waited for Natasha to join him. The two stayed low, weaving amongst the boxes and planes and sticking to the edge of the hanger to avoid getting seen. He stopped at some point to wait for patrols and workers to pass by and Natasha watched his back for danger. The two fell into a pattern one that they had always been used to they just never had to use it against S.H.I.E.L.D.. Their goal seemed in reach as they moved and that was of course when everything went wrong. Clint heard something heavy jumping around on top of the metal crates and quinjets. He wasn’t sure what it was and couldn’t spot it. Seemed like each time he looked towards the sound it had jumped again. He could hear it though moving closer towards them. Within moment it was on top of them growling down at them. It seemed humanoid and in S.H.I.E.L.D. gear causing Clint to be unable to tell what it was. It crouched on top of a pile of boxes leaning over ready to jump at them then a loud screech sounded from it alerting everyone to where it was and where they were. “Run!” Clint yelled at Natasha pushing her towards the crate that had the emergency jet. “Get in, get in, get in.” Natasha forced the back of the crate in seeing a smaller quinjet inside. “Get it started up I’ll hold them off.” Clint stood at the entrance with his bow out preparing for a fight as Natasha searched for the spot to enter her code.

“Agent Barton, Agent Romanov,” One of the other agents called out as a large group of them approached the crate, “You are both under arrest for treason. Come quietly and we won’t hurt you.”

“Treason? You’re kidding me, right?” Clint questioned when he got no response his voice filled with anger, “Since when? What proof?”

“All of the Avengers have been charged with treason against the United States. We can work this out just put the bow down, put your hands up and come with us.”

Clint saw the creature that had found them among the group that had gathered, watching him. “Like hell I will,” Clint replied before he started to shoot at the agents who began to run towards him. He held them off as the creature started to leap towards him. He took aim at it with an explosive arrow head; he wasn’t going to take chance against it. Natasha entered her code into the jet and Clint released his arrow as usual getting a direct hit. He smirked as the explosion went off. “Come on, we’re good to go.” He ran into the jet reaching the pilot seat before something wrapped around his leg pulling him back. He clutched onto the seat knowing what grabbed him was stronger than he was. He looked over his shoulder to see what grabbed him, his eyes going wide with horror. He weighed his options quickly using the last of his strength to pull himself forward enough to hit the auto pilot to the pre-programmed coordinates before the creature pulled him back and out of the jet. “I’m sorry Natasha… Good luck.” He was pulled out with enough speed that the jet closed moments after he was out.

Natasha watched in horror as she was locked in, “Clint!” She look out the windows trying to see what was going on only able to see the smoke left behind by the explosion.

 

 

_“Natasha.”_

Natasha woke up thanks to a hand on her arm lightly shaking her and the soft voice. She took a few moments to remember where she was, seeing Rick in the driver’s seat of the truck and Bruce in the passenger seat leaning over to check on her. She had taken the rather small and cramped back and during the long trip had let herself doze off. She wasn’t intending on letting it happen again, not after that memory.

“You okay?” Bruce questioned he didn’t look convinced when she nodded in response to the question but at the same time he didn’t push any further. “We’re here.”

 


	4. Cold Climate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce and Natasha make a quick stop for supplies but end up talking about something that might have been better left unsaid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for this relatively boring chapter but it's mainly to get from point A to point B.

“So where exactly is here?” Natasha questioned as they got out of the truck. Bruce was talking with Rick as Natasha looked at the rather large house in front of her.

“Walter Langkowski’s home,” Bruce replied eventually looking at it, “He was my roommate in college, nice guy, very big and harry now.”

Natasha looked at Bruce slightly confused, “You mean the guy who calls himself the Sasquatch?” She remembered seeing a file on him in passing but paid no mind to him, didn’t really need to pay attention to the Canadians super heroes often.

“That’s the one,” Bruce nodded, “Very smart. He has a lab under his house. He should have what we need to finish these.” He held up the small devices he had been working on before.

“Wait, you didn’t tell him we were coming right? You know S.I.E.L.D. tracking and all of that?” Natasha commented.

“Course not, you’re going to break in,” Bruce smirked and didn’t stop even as Natasha glared at him, “He won’t mind, he’ll understand if I leave a note. Now come on you need to get us inside.”

“What happened to the Dr. Banner I knew who cringed at the thought of taking a pen from a hotel room?” Natasha questioned.

“He met you and Clint. Enough stalling get with the breaking in,” Bruce replied with the same smirk.

“Right you two, good luck with this,” Rick nodded getting back into his truck. There was no point in questioning where he was going. Bruce had probably talked him into leaving them. “You need anything you know how to reach me.”

Natasha watched the young man drive away, “So what’s the plan on getting out of here now that our ride is gone?”

“I’ve gotten us this far, I’m fairly sure you can trust that I have a plan,” Bruce shrugged walking up to the front door. He was waiting for Natasha to break in with an arrogant smile on his face.

“Your plans are starting to make me very worried,” Natasha grumbled as she looked at the door. Looking at the locks and then looking for signs of an alarm system.

“You asked for my help so you don’t get to grumble about my plans,” Bruce commented as he watched, “It’s Canada, their alarm systems suck to be honest I’m surprised the door is locked.”

“It’s a high end scientist, you telling me he’s not going to have an alarm?” Natasha questioned.

“Not on the front door, probably on his lab,” Bruce shrugged, “Who in their right mind would try to rob a Sasquatch?”

“The people who keep trying to robe you? Us?” Natasha started to pick the lock on the door carefully not really looking forward to opening it.

“Ha, funny,” Bruce replied, “Less joking more lock picking.”

“Would you just go cut the power,” Natasha replied, “I’ll have it unlocked after. I don’t want to take a chance on an alarm. If there is one it probably has batteries in case the power gets cut but it’s worth a shot.” She heard the soft click of the door unlocking and smirked. Though the smirk vanished when Bruce just opened the door and let the alarm blast. She was prepared to punch him out even if he did Hulk out when he simply walked inside calmly and over to the box, entering the code to deactivate it. “You knew the code?”

“Yeah I just wanted to be a jerk,” Bruce shrugged, “Also had a key this entire time, just wanted to make you work a bit. Now come on the lab’s downstairs.” Bruce led the way through the house knowing its layout well quickly heading to the basement he started to shuffle through Walter’s stuff.

Natasha was debating on if she could hit Bruce hard enough in the crotch could she get enough distance between herself and his eventually Hulk state to keep herself safe. More than likely she could but she decided against it for not, “What exactly are we looking for?”

“A power cell for these, they’ll stop S.H.I.E.L.D.’s tracking in just about every way possible,” Bruce replied, “Including when the gamma radiation I give off spikes. We will basically disappear, which in my experience you’re fairly good at, I’m just offering a way to make it easier.”

Natasha shot a glare at Bruce again, “Can we put that to the side until we get Clint out? Let’s just focus on what we need to do.”

“Unlikely,” Bruce replied, “I was finally having fewer and fewer nightmares about what happened. Then wouldn’t you know it, you show up again to remind me, looking for my help of all things. Hence I’m not going to let it go for as long as we’re working together.”

 Natasha remained silent for a while as Bruce continued to search the lab, “Then if you’re not going to let this go can we finally talk about it?”

“It would be unwise but I can’t stop you,” Bruce replied as he moved some boxes around eventually finding some equipment he needed he sat down to work on his devices.

“You left,” Natasha commented trying to put everything she wanted to say together, “you didn’t give us a chance to explain or even a slight chance to try to make it right.”

“You can’t exactly make all of what happened right,” Bruce stated emotionless to the entire thing as he worked.

“We made a mistake Bruce, we tried to fix it but you didn’t give us a chance,” Natasha continued, “we came for you when you needed us.”

“And why did I need you? Oh right because you left me in the first place,” Bruce replied never looking up.

“It was a mistake…” Natasha repeated her voice growing soft, “It was poor judgement and it was my fault. You shouldn’t have quit or blamed the others… You didn’t have to blame Clint.”

“The others weren’t there and they were getting tired of me anyways,” Bruce stopped working for a moment still not looking up. He rubbed his eyes in frustration then continued to work, “And Clint made a choice that day too; he chose what he did so it’s just as much his fault as it yours.”

“Just as much his fault? So all of it was our fault to you?” Natasha questioned quickly getting angry if he had stuck to blaming her she’d be fine but she wasn’t going to let him drag Clint down, “Yeah he made a choice, but so did you Bruce. You are not blameless in all of this. You insisted on coming along when we told you not to. You knew the dangers of coming with us.”

“I didn’t think you’d pull a stunt like that,” Bruce snapped back.

“You knew it was the job,” Natasha continued on, “You should have stayed back at the tower and let us do the job.”

“What and sit at home while everyone risked their lives? What if you had needed Hulk there?” Bruce stood up leaving his devices alone and glaring right at Natasha.

“We didn’t need Hulk there and you knew that you just couldn’t handle that there was something going on that you weren’t good at,” Natasha glared right back.

“I wasn’t going to let everyone risk everything while I sat at the tower twiddling my thumbs being useless,” Bruce yelled, “I thought being part of a team meant sticking together and being there. Of course that all just proved that I wasn’t part of the team. Hulk was but he was uncontrollable when he was out so you didn’t want him. In the end I was kept around because you all felt pity for me. Poor Bruce Banner, can’t do anything, can’t be part of the team, can’t fight like the rest of us, just a nerdy little scientist. Really I guess I should be thanking you and Clint for proving that I was never an Avenger and that I should stop fooling myself. So I changed, and I left. Look where that got me, back in it again because you need my help. Small world I guess, keeps going around in a circle. Thrown to the side and forgotten when no one needs what I have and people begging for help when they’re in trouble.”

Natasha continued to glare at him for a moment before turning and heading upstairs. _Idiot, why did you bring that up? You know he’s bull headed._ If it was anyone else, she would have stayed and argued, but she knew better than to push her luck when Bruce was already in a bad mood.

It was another hour before Bruce came upstairs with the devices, he seemed to have cooled down in that time. He offered one to Natasha, “Just attach it to your belt and they won’t be able to track you easily.”

Natasha took the device looking at it for a moment and avoiding eye contact, “What about our ride?”

Bruce attached his own device to his belt, “We’re going to use Hulk.” He looked at Natasha seeing her horrified face at the thought. “What? It’s the fastest way. He can find his way to New Mexico without any issues. He’s always able to find his way home.” Natasha still wasn’t convinced, clearly. “Do you have a better idea how to get down their quickly? Because the longer we take the longer it’ll take to break Clint out.” It was certainly the best idea they had that was true.

“But back then…” Natasha commented softly.

“Give him a chance,” Bruce replied simply, “I trust Hulk can get you there safely, it’s his home after all.”

Natasha swallowed hard completely terrified by the idea but with no other solution she couldn’t argue with it. Bruce waved for her to follow him outside. Once outside Natasha watched Bruce’s body grow and mutate which was a painful process to watch. It only took five seconds but the idea of having one’s body rapidly and violently expand like that was not a pleasant thought. Hulk let out a roar once the shift was complete, one showing the amount of pain his body had just gone through. He looked at Natasha with some understanding. He couldn’t remember everything but he knew he had to get to New Mexico. He could feel Bruce urging the memories forward to tell him to go there, asking him to put aside his hate and help. Bruce was doing all he can to hold back the Hulk’s rage, to keep Hulk thinking clearly.

“Hulk?” Natasha asked cautiously trying to hide her fear.

“Hulk,” Hulk stated slowly, “go home. Hulk take N’tasha there.” He had often had issues with everyone’s names, he did better than he had in the past so Natasha couldn’t complain about that. She wanted to complain on the idea of how they were getting to New Mexico though. Hulk picked Natasha up in his large arms before running and taking long and powerful jumps to cover great distances. Natasha clung to Hulk at the sudden change is speed. _Safe… Right._

 


	5. Hulk Travel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha and Hulk get a heart to heart and then Bruce and Natasha make a plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two updates in a day? Long story short I meant to post Cold Climate yesterday and then post this one today. Thus two chapters, one day. Hulk sentence fragments ahead.

* * *

 

Hulk eventually came to stop in New Mexico at what seemed to be some sort of desert base. He set Natasha down and shouldn’t help but feel weak in the knees from the sudden stop and the way they had traveled. She took a moment to regain herself and understand where she was. Hulk had made sure she was safe during the trip but that didn’t exactly help with how she felt. She looked around realizing they were at a military base, one that hadn’t been used in a long time by the looks. She moved slowly along the cabins while Hulk stood where he had landed, “Hulk home.”

“This… This is the bomb site,” Natasha commented, “This is-“

“Where Hulk born,” Hulk replied with a nod and stated again, “Hulk home.”

“Guess it was abandoned after everything that happened,” Natasha replied as she looked at the destroyed cabins that once was home to the scientists and family members of the personnel who worked there. She was careful about how she moved expecting S.H.I.E.L.D. agents or Ross to be hiding around any corner waiting for them. They must have had this place watched since they knew Hulk tended to travel around this area. She walked through some of the holes in the walls of the cabins that had been emptied, each one adding a new reality to the story she had heard so often. A man left the safety of a bunk during a bomb test to save a boy he didn’t know, a Russian spy tried to kill the man by letting the bomb go off. The man still saved the boy but became a monster for this, and in many ways ruined his life. That monster had destroyed the base during a fight with the military in an attempt to see someone he cared about. Now that so called monster had returned willingly to this place as he so often did because he had nowhere else to go, this destruction was all he knew.

Natasha walked back outside taking each sight in carefully, still unsure. She was aware of Hulk slowly following her as she explored. She walked up to another cabin and wiped the dust away from the name plate to see Bruce’s name. She entered it if only to see if there was anything left. There was a missing wall and destroyed science equipment everywhere, she had heard once that the Russian spy who helped caused this tried to rob Bruce but was found by Hulk who tore open the cabin. She moved through the building, and heard some glass under her feet as she moved into the living area. She looked down seeing a picture frame and couldn’t help but pick it up. She found the picture of a woman inside, old and worn from being left here for so long. She looked at the woman with interest, unsure who she was though she did look like Betty Ross it was clear it wasn’t her. She turned to Hulk and help out the picture to him, “Hulk, you wouldn’t happen to know who this is would you?”

Hulk looked at the picture gently taking it from Natasha. He stood there looking at it for a moment and frowned with a nod. “…Mother,” With that simple word Natasha remembered that while Hulk was large, destructive and had a brilliant scientist inside him he was little more than a very young child. Bruce’s childhood trauma and anger made into flesh but also that wish to protect his family. Hulk stared at the picture for a long time then held it out to Natasha to take away. As soon as it was out of his hand Hulk turned and punched the wall. Natasha jumped back, she should have known better than to bring up old memories with Hulk. Hulk didn’t turn on Natasha though, he didn’t even keep punching. He stood there with his hand in the wall breathing heavily at his memories and slowly he pulled his hand out. He walked outside the cabin to wait for Natasha to finish, sitting down. Natasha pocketed the picture, she wasn’t sure what urged her to do that but Bruce had brought it with him here all those years ago, even back then the memory must have been painful but she knew he did it so he never forgot. She certainly wasn’t going to leave it on the ground to be treated like trash.

Natasha continued walking through Bruce’s old cabin; she wasn’t sure what else to do until Bruce took over again. She found old research papers and other pictures many of him and Betty together on the base. She came across an old doll of some sort in a cardboard box, humanoid in appearance but not human closer to that of an elf or some sort of anthropomorphic horse maybe? She wasn’t really sure. It was old though and an arm had been carelessly torn off of it. She was rather certain it wasn’t Bruce who tore the arm off but could probably believe one of the military personnel, most likely Ross, had done it and annoyed Bruce. She smiled a bit as she looked at it.

The sudden voice from behind her made her jump a bit, “That was Guardian. My mother gave him to me when I was young and by that I mean it was the first gift she gave me when she brought me home. He was basically my only friend for the longest time, at least until I met Jen but we so rarely saw each other so all I really had was Guardian. I relied on him for everything back then. I remember asking him to warn me if my father woke up one Christmas morning. He fell over right as my father came downstairs and when I looked to see what had happened my father was yelling at me.” Bruce walked up beside Natasha taking the doll from her, “it went downhill from there.” He was shirtless and his pants were barely staying on but it was something she had seen many times before when Bruce was part of the team.

“Bruce… I’m sorry,” Natasha said softly, “I was just looking around and came across it.”

“It’s alright, I had forgotten he- it was here.” His eyes landed on the missing arm, “I remember when I came here and Ross tore off the arm after Betty found it. Yelled about how it wasn’t important and how he wanted the bomb he was promised. He was right, I had to let go of such childish things and stuff like this. Keeping him won’t bring anything back.” Bruce let Guardian fall back into the box, “Come on we can’t stay here, it’s too dangerous.”

“Where do you plan on going?” Natasha asked.

“There’s a cave, it’s fairly well hidden. Rick and I used to go there when I was working back when Hulk was more, let’s say predictable. It has an old lab and has served me well in the past.” Bruce started walking, it was clear the trip had drained him physically as he started to trip over his own feet. Natasha caught him before he fell ready to help him get to the cave he spoke of. “Thanks. There’s some clothes in the lab there. It’s right over there.” He pointed to some rock formations in the distance.

“Alright,” Natasha nodded, “Do you have a plan to break into the S.H.I.E.L.D. warehouse?”

“Sort of,” Bruce admitted, “I was thinking we Trojan Horse it. If we can get our hands on some of that heavy armor S.H.I.E.L.D. uses that hides the face then I can walk you right into the base.”

“They’ll have twenty guns aimed at me as soon as they see me,” Natasha replied, “granted I’ve been through worse but these guys are ready for me.”

“Are they ready for you to be handcuffed and drugged?” Bruce questioned.

“What are you planning?” Natasha raised an eyebrow not liking where this was going.

“Well you can slip out of handcuffs fairly easily last time I checked,” Bruce replied, “I can make it seem like you’re sedated without actually sedating you.”

“I don’t like where this plan is going,” Natasha is replaced, “Handcuffed, drugged, what next? Black bagged? Are we able to come up with a worse idea?”

“Black bag might actually help,” Bruce replied, “But it could be worse, we could have no idea. We’ll get our hands on one of their outfits, we’ll go in, they’ll lower their guard if they think you’re drugged.”

“Only if they’re newer recruits, one senior agent in there and the guards will be doubled,” Natasha pointed out.

“Then it’s a good thing our back up plan is that the guy standing beside you is the Hulk,” Bruce shrugged with a smirk, “and they won’t know that until it’s too late. But let’s avoid that option.”

“They’ll call Ross and instantly call the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. once I’m in there,” Natasha replied.

“We’ll sneak past as long as we can and we’ll stop them from calling for back up,” Bruce replied, “Just get me to that cave.” Natasha dragged Bruce the rest of the way to the cave. He pointed at a wall inside and lifted up a stone to reveal a button causing the door to the hidden lab to open. Once inside he walked around on his own though still weak he was recovering. He went through the old boxes he had left behind looking for something pulling out a large metal device, “Communication jammer. It’ll work over a short radius. It’s only a prototype from years ago but it should work. Course it might short circuit, I don’t know.”

“This plan just gets better and better,” Natasha replied sarcastically but they didn’t have anything better and they were quickly running out of time. There was no telling what was happening to Clint not to mention whatever they would end up doing to Steve or Tony eventually. “If things turn bad your other half better show up and get us out.”

“We’ll leave in the morning,” Bruce smirked, “there are some beds over here for the times when Rick and I crashed here.” He waved for Natasha to follow him. Bruce removed a cover from the beds that protected them from the dust of the lab. “It’ll get fairly cold here at night, so do be careful.”

“Alright,” Natasha nodded, “Bruce… Try to actually be here when I get up this time instead of chopping wood or calling in favors.” Bruce let out a soft chuckle at that.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Part one of the incident revealed.


	6. The Incident: The Missing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Minor Out of character moment ahead, I did my best to make it not make it out of character.

“Come on boys,” Natasha called out running ahead of Bruce and Clint, “this is the only chance we’ve got to catch this guy.”

“You don’t need to tell me twice,” Clint was right behind her while Bruce lagged not far behind though was struggling to keep up. They had been after a criminal with the Avengers for a while, John King, generally not a big name but he’d been giving some trouble recently.  No one was sure where he was getting his money or the tech he had been using. His weapons were stronger than any criminal at his rank should have. More importantly he had learned how to disappear off the grid for months at a time. By pure luck he had come up to close a deal for some new weapons and information. Thor, Iron Man, and Capt were busy holding off King’s lackies and new allies while Bruce, Clint and Natasha were told to give chase. “How about we just go with Hulk power?” Clint called out getting annoyed with the chase.

“Hulk will rip him in half and we need him alive,” Bruce huffed out, he had been sent along for the run just so he wouldn’t be in the line of fire, in theory. Hulk had become more and more out of control with each time Bruce let him out. It had become ideal to keep him out of the fight unless they needed something completely destroyed but even then there was a good chance Hulk would turn on everyone else. There was no guaranteed way to stop Hulk when he did lose control completely and it had seemed like the times when they needed something completely destroyed were few and far between.

“Come on he can’t keep this pace up forever,” Natasha commented. Bruce rolled his eyes a bit considering they couldn’t keep it up either, most of all him. He couldn’t help but feel like him going along was beyond frustrating to everyone, perhaps most of all him.

“I can’t get a clear shot at him,” Clint complained as King darted around a corner as the group continued to follow.

The three started to close in on the man finally feeling like they had this but nothing was that simple. There was a strange pop recognized as the sound of as a tranquilizer gun which caused Bruce to fall to the ground his body going limp. “Bruce!” Clint skidded on the ground a bit as he turned to see what happened rushing over to Bruce. He quickly found the dart in his back and started to look around for where the shooter was. “Tash! They got Bruce!” Natasha stopped where she was looking at the two men then over her shoulder at King who was starting to get further away. Natasha was going through the options and quickly getting a hold of Fury to report in what happened.

“We need to get him out of here,” Clint commented getting the dart out of Bruce and tossing it to the side. He was clearly concerned as he looked over at Natasha though it soon faded to disappointment when she shook her head.

“Fury says stay after King,” Natasha replied, “he’s priority. Fury has a team less than two minutes out who will come get Bruce.”

“We can’t just leave him,” Clint muttered.

Clint could tell this was hard for even Natasha to decide after all it was hard for him to even think about. The tension between everyone as what felt like hours passed though it was only a few seconds of complete silence making it uncomfortable. “No,” Natasha stated finally, “we have our orders. The S.H.I.E.L.D. team will be here soon to help him. If we lose this shot at King a lot of innocent people are going to get hurt and we might not get another shot like this. I’m sorry…” With that she started to run after King again, “Let’s go Clint.”

Hesitantly Clint got up after looking at Bruce, he could tell Natasha didn’t really want to leave and he didn’t want to leave either but she was right about King and considering how dangerous King had gotten leaving Natasha alone against him was extremely dangerous. “Fury better hurry up,” Clint muttered before running after Natasha.

 

The two had caught up to King but they lost what he was selling and had no clue who had bought it. Clint felt like his gut was being slashed apart as he returned to see if Fury had picked Bruce up while Natasha took King in. He mentally swore at himself for leaving the other man behind. He found no trace of Bruce and called in to see if S.H.I.E.L.D. did get him. His gut turned when the response he got was that Bruce wasn’t there when they showed up. He felt his anger rising quickly and he demanded the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent have Natasha contact him as soon as she got in with King. Clint had spent the time frantically looking for anything, hoping maybe that Bruce had woken up enough and dragged himself somewhere to hide or maybe he Hulked out and got out. He couldn’t find anything though. It was a few minutes before Natasha called him.

“Bruce is gone,” Clint wasn’t sure how he kept his voice steady despite how angry he was with everything.

Natasha didn’t reply for a while but eventually she stated with no emotion, “I’m on my way, we’ll find him.”

“There’s no trace of him,” Clint replied, “There’s nothing here. We shouldn’t have left him.”

“I know Clint, I’ll be there soon,” Natasha replied. She had arrived a few minutes later and started to help Clint search the area looking for any trace of what happened. Whoever took Bruce had cleaned up everything at a rate that seemed impossible.

“I should have pocketed that dart,” Clint muttered.

“You couldn’t have seen this happen,” Natasha replied.

“He was shot by a tranquilizer,” Clint growled, “this should have been obvious.”

“It was a stressful situation,” Natasha muttered in response, “we had our orders.”

“Screw orders,” Clint yelled, “He was our friend.”

“It happened, Clint. We all knew the risks going in, we had to get the target first and foremost and Bruce knew that,” Natasha glared in response; “we need to move on and figure out what to do. Let’s head back to the tower and tell the others.”

“We shouldn’t have brought him, we should have made him stay back,” Clint growled his anger turning on Bruce and the fact he went with them, “Without Hulk he had no reason to be out here.”

“I know, but you know he would have tried to come anyways.” Natasha nodded putting a hand on Clint’s shoulder, “He might not want to lose control and hurt everyone but he doesn’t like sitting around doing nothing while we’re risking our lives.”

“Who cares what he likes!?” Clint yelled in response, “At least he’d be safe.”

“We’ll find him Clint, I promise,” Natasha replied, “it’s kind of hard for anyone to kidnap and hide Bruce Banner after all. Now come on, we’re going to need back up if we’re going to find him any time soon.” The two started to walk away intending to talk to the others.

 _Damn it Bruce where are you?_ Clint ran a hand through his hair and looked at the sky.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first starting reveal of what happened during the incident.


	7. The Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce and Natasha break into a smaller S.H.I.E.L.D. base to get supplies and information. Maybe they should have thought the plan through a little more. Bruce continues to have dangerous untested pills and chemicals that can do weird things that he probably hasn't tested. But since when is that something new?

* * *

 

Bruce crouched down behind some rock formations as he waited for Natasha who had climbed on top to look at the small town not far from where they were. The town was completely fake housing the S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel who worked in the base under it. Natasha had been watching the guards carefully trying to remember anything she could about them that could give them an advantage. She needed to get one of them away, knock them out and strip their uniform for Bruce. Meanwhile Bruce was setting up his device to block communications. Natasha continued to watch the workers and observed everything, including noting where the security cameras were. Considering how they hadn’t been found yet she was confident Bruce anti-tracking device he had thrown together was working or there was some sort of trap inside. Natasha smirked when she finally caught a break, as she watched an agent set down a cellphone out of the way of the cameras. She slipped down and moved silently towards the town keeping herself out of sight until she was able to grab the cell. She quickly returned to Bruce who seemed completely confused.

“Really just needed to make a call? Going to order them some pizza or something?” Bruce rolled his eyes as he questioned and finished working before sitting down beside Natahsa. He kept the device off but was ready to start it up at a moment’s notice.

“Shut up,” Natasha replied, “One of the agents down there loves to sext with people. He’s the only chance I’ve seen and we need some way to lure him out.”

“Yeah somehow, I didn’t imagine going into the base in the armor of a guy who seems to like sexting with everyone, I fear what state his suit will be in,” Bruce replied but watched over Natasha’s shoulder as she started to text. Natasha kept a smirk on her face as she worked and it grew wider each time Bruce made a comment of “Didn’t know that was possible.” Generally Natasha’s replies to these comments were, “Then you haven’t spent enough time in the underground world.”, “Would you like to see?” or “Nor did I until a target asked me to try it while I was undercover. Turns out it works if you balance yourself carefully.”

Natasha glanced out of their hiding spot to see the agent she had been texting slip away from the group and towards the rocks. Bruce didn’t want to imagine what he was thinking of doing so he just waited for Natasha to do what she was good at. Within moments the agent was unconscious on the ground. Natasha started to strip him down and toss the clothes at Bruce, “Go get changed.” It looked like Bruce was about to make a comment that couldn’t go anywhere good however Natasha stopped him by whipping the boots at his face. “Don’t even start, this was your idea.” Once done she started to tie the agent up as Bruce got the armor on, it was a bit baggy on him and awkward to move in but as long as no one looked closely it would work.

Bruce’s face was hidden behind a helmet so it was hard to tell how he felt about this idea, if he was having second thoughts but he offered a pill to Natasha, “It’ll give your body similar reaction to if you’re drugged but shouldn’t sedate you, really it just causes your eyes to make you look like you’re drugged.”

“That can still be problematic,” Natasha was hesitant to take the pill considering where they were going.

“It’ll alter your vision a bit since you’ll react to light slower but shouldn’t be too bad,” Bruce replied.

“This will bug me,” Natasha replied taking the pill. Within a few minutes she could tell it was working, she maintained control of her body but nothing looked right, as if there was just a light fog over everything. “I don’t know how well I can fight like this.”

“Well the idea is we shouldn’t need you at your best as long as they think you’re sedated and really the chemical will wear off soon,” Bruce replied as he moved behind her to cuff her, “Just stick to the plan, we’ll figure this out. Besides you have a Hulk behind you.”

“Not as reassuring as you think,” Natasha replied with a slight nervous laugh. She could feel that Bruce left the cuffs rather loose on her, they were easy for her to get out of. They had been able to bring the cuffs with them after altering it so that if they did tighten Natasha could easily break them with a strong tug.

“Well, it’s hard for them to pay attention to you with a giant green monster in their base,” Bruce replied placing a hand on her shoulder and gripping the cuffs with his other hand.

“Point taken doesn’t mean everything will work out,” Natasha replied, “You know how to act and what to say right?”

“I’ve been to enough military bases, I think I remember,” Bruce replied, “at least what’s important to know. We’ll fake the rest. You ready?”  Natasha nodded, not convinced but not having any real choice in the matter. She let her body go limp and forced herself to trip over her feet as Bruce led the way from where they were hiding towards the base. She was in a position to elbow him if he said anything stupid and he knew it, probably wasn’t going to stop him though. As some of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents came into view she heard Bruce mutter, “Here goes nothing…” He took a depp breath in, nerves building quickly as he questioned how he could possibly have ever thought that this was a good idea. He decided he had come too far to turn back now and called out to the agents, “Get over here! I need back up. We’ve got Widow.”

Within moment the agents piled over to Bruce’s location surrounding him and ordering him to stop. What could only be the team leader stepped forward looking at Bruce, unable to see his face behind the helmet. Bruce could tell by the body shape the leader was female and his thought was confirmed when he spoke, her voice familiar but Bruce couldn’t pin it, “You single handily drugged the Black Widow and brought her here?” She looked at Natasha then back at Bruce seeming to assess the situation and Natasha’s state.

Bruce figured that would come out, “I was doing a wide patrol. Noticed something odd and circled around some rock formations, I spotted her scouting the area and got off a lucky shot while her back was turned.”

The leader shook her head, “Then she wanted to be caught. Oh well, sedated and here is certainly better than completely lost even if this is some sort of plan. Let’s head inside and send a call back to HQ. Keep constant guard on her, if she even opens her mouth to speak shoot her. I will not have chaos on my base.”

“Charming woman,” Bruce muttered when they started to walk away towards the entrance of the base. The other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents formed a circle around Bruce and Natasha to lead them inside. “So far so good…” Bruce was hoping beyond anything that this would work out as he planned.

They stepped inside what seemed to be a warehouse thought it was full of old crates no one would ever care about, for the most part it seemed run down but the group walked to the center for the room. As it seemed standard in all secret organizations the floor opened up to an elevator and lowered them down into the actual base. Bruce looked at Natasha trying to read anything on her while they waited but she was keeping her expression blank as she looked at the ground. Bruce continued to walk with the group trying to appear as soldier like as he could manage, he had been on a base long enough and had watched other soldiers he figured he could imitate them even if it was awkward in the baggy armor. He followed directions to their holding cells, down the long hallways and paths, passed the armory. The leader of the group pointed to one of the cells at that far end. “Keep her in there and keep her sedated. No one talks to her at all; no one gets within arm’s reach of the cell, shoot the drugs into her from a distance. We’ll only need to hold her for a few minutes. I’ll put a call in for a pick up. You, the one who brought her in, come with me. You should be rewarded. The others will handle the rest.”

Bruce reluctantly let the other agents take over his position and followed the squad leader away so as not to raise suspicion. He shot a glance over his shoulder at Natasha, his heart starting to race. He wasn’t expecting this; really he hadn’t even considered something like this happening. He went with it though thinking quickly trying to figure out a new plan.

Natasha forced herself not to react though she wanted to yell at Bruce for going. _Idiot now they’ve got the upper hand. Why the hell didn’t you make an excuse not to go?  Why did I agree to this?_ She heard the cell in front of her open, knowing Bruce had already rounded the corner with the leader of the base. She felt an agent put his hand on her shoulder and could feel him standing too close. _Forgot S.H.I.E.L.D. had these idiots just like every group._ She could basically sense that demented smile that constantly popped up around her when she was cuffed and supposedly drugged. She felt the agent step closer and with that she threw her head back hitting him hard to knock him away. She slipped out of the cuffs with no effort and used the shock of the agents to her advantage. Tossing the cuffs at one agent as a short distraction she started to disarm the group tossing some into each other, hitting them wherever she could. She got a hold of one of their guns, refusing to shoot the agents she just used it as a melee weapon. It wasn't just that she didn't want to kill her former co-workers who were following orders but also that gun shots would actually probably attract attention. She hit one agent in the throat to silence him before knocking him out so he couldn’t call for help. Quickly knocking the others out she spent less than a minute gathering up their ammo and any equipment she wanted. Handguns, very basic pieces of armor, their tranqs, anything she thought could help her. She moved down the hallway quickly after Bruce but didn’t see him anywhere. _Genius my ass. You idiot why didn’t you stall her? You could have asked for a short break to catch your breath or something, just a quick lie to slow her down. You know I’d catch up if you just stalled for a moment. You’re a bloody idiot._ Natasha started to pick up speed her mind flashing back to the day when she and Clint couldn’t find Bruce. She looked down the hallways, listening to what was around her trying to figure out what path they had taken. _Come on. You must have seen the layout of this place a few times. Where would they go?_ That familiar feeling of being completely lost and separated crept into her again. _Not again… I should have said no, should have made him stay back._

“I know all of my agents,” Natasha ran past a door hearing the voice, stopping to move back and listening. Her heart slowed and the feelings started to leave to be replaced by anger. Checking the guns she had picked up making sure that they would work though she wouldn't fire any lethal shot. “Now who are you?” Bruce didn't answer her at all as Natasha glared at the door in front of her. “Tell me before I shoot you down.” Natasha quickly thought about what the room could possibly have inside it that could cause her trouble. She didn’t want to go in blind but she also needed to make sure Bruce didn’t get a shot since that wouldn’t end well for anyone.

“You really wouldn’t want to do that,” Bruce replied finally, Natasha could tell her was going to be arrogant and a jerk, “it really wouldn’t end well for you.”

“I’ve put a call in to the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. they’ll be here to arrest you soon enough if you don’t tell me who you are and what you’re up to,” the female voice replied, “they could persuade you into talking.”

“Wow you go right to torture now? S.H.I.E.L.D.’s certainly fallen a long way,” Natasha put her hand on the handle ready to go in, she was guessing no one else was in the room otherwise Bruce wouldn’t go this far. “Either way you’re bluffing. None of your calls went through, I could tell by the look on your face. You also wouldn’t want to torture me; really you’d be too afraid to punch me. Never know what might be lurking under the skin after all.”

“…Banner. She went and got you?” With that Natasha opened the door pointing her gun right at the agent. Natasha kept her face blank as she realized who was in front of her, Maria Hill.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter mainly exposition with Hill, it is the calm before the storm.


	8. Agent Hill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce and Natasha get the information they need from Maria Hill but then need to get out of the base.

“Yes, I went and got him. Sorry about the mess but I need my scientist back now, if you don’t mind,” Natasha replied not lowering her gun, she wasn’t sure which side Hill was on.

“Took you long enough,” Hill replied, “Now then how did you get him back? More importantly, why?” She looked at Bruce, “Why did you come back? Both of you. You could have disappeared.”

“This isn’t the S.H.I.E.L.D. we want to be part of Hill. I found Bruce because he’s one of the connections I have that could and would do something about this. S.H.I.E.L.D. has something important to me and is threatening some others,” Natasha explained, “I have a lot of connections, you know that. If I wanted to disappear for good I could. But I’m not disappearing unless they’re safe.”

“As for how she got me back,” Bruce commented removing the helmet finally, “well let’s just say I’m not the heartless bastard people think I am and I really don’t like the way S.H.I.E.L.D. is going right now.”

“Not many of us do,” Hill muttered thinking over everything as she sat down across from Bruce, “Agent Romanov, have you had any luck getting in contact with Director Fury?”

“None,” Natasha shook her head, “He’s completely off the grid. We’re on our own unless you had some luck of some sort. Now my turn to ask the questions, what do you plan to do about us and what do you know about what happened?”

Hill thought it over for a long time, “I can’t order my troops to stand down and let you walk out. A few of them are loyal to Fury but most this is just a job and they want their payment which comes from the new boss. But I can pretend like I don’t know about you two being free around here. You both would need to move quickly once you leave this room. As for what happened with S.H.I.E.L.D. I really wish I knew. Woke up and Fury was gone all I had was a note telling me to move to this base and oversee it, never told way but it was signed by Fury. I’ve been left alone by the new guy thus far and just got updates from the main base nothing big.”

“Fury must have known this was coming and moved you here for a backup plan,” Natasha commented. “Though why he didn’t move more of us is beyond me.”

“The way the message was written, I don’t think he had time to find places for everyone, he knew you and Clint would take care of yourselves,” Hill replied, “I’m sorry about what happened though.”

“Do you know where they’re holding Clint?” Bruce questioned, “Or where I can get onto a computer to find out?”

“They’ve been holding agents who aren’t conforming to this new leader in what they call the Madhouse,” Hill replied, “this new leader has been looking at all of the bases and each time it seems like agents go missing and are getting replaced. Eventually he’s going to be coming here to do his checks. Seems some of the agents are happy about how he’s restructuring everything, being harder on super-humans and causing some to just disappear while many are extremely unhappy about the sudden disappearance of Fury not to mention their friends and many of our defenses are just gone without any reason.”

“The Madhouse?” Bruce questioned.

“It’s an old psychiatric ward S.H.I.E.L.D. owns, while it looks old and doesn’t stand out the inside is a fortress,” Natasha replied, “it’s kept undercover, not many S.H.I.E.L.D. agents even knew about it.  It’s been kept separate from everything for a long time. It was used for a few of the stronger criminals who were insane as well as agents who lost their mind in an attempt to help them. It was used for interrogations as well, ones we didn’t want other people to know about.”

“So one of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s dirty secrets, got it,” Bruce replied with a nod.

Hill looked at her computer and raised her eyebrow, quickly standing up, “You two need to go. Communications just went up.”

“Blocker must have short circuited,” Bruce grumbled, “I thought we’d have more time.”

“Worse, I can see reports going out, someone found it,” Hill replied, “Go now. Get what you need and run. Romanov, if you find Fury… end this. Before it goes too far.”

Natasha nodded and ran out of the room Bruce followed close behind, “The Madhouse huh?”

“This just got a lot harder,” Natasha replied heading for an armory, she slipped in and Bruce followed gathering up guns, ammo and devices.

Bruce looked out the door seeing a group gather, “I think we have company.”

Natasha moved over beside Bruce looking out the door at the group gathering,  “Great they’re blocking out way out.”

“No back way out?” Bruce questioned when he saw Natasha shake his head he let out a low growl, “Greeeaaaattt. Well then plan B.” Bruce walked out of the room with his hands above his head. “Hello agents.”

“On the ground,” One of the guards yelled.

“Interesting request,” Bruce replied, “Counter request, you turn around and walk away.” Natasha growled under her breath at Bruce’s actions. _I’m going to kill him._

“On the ground or we will shoot,” The guard yelled again.

“No,” Bruce stood his ground, “You turn around and walk away before this gets dangerous.”

“Last chance,” Bruce watched them as the tensed ready to shoot him.

“Been on this side of several guns before, never ended well for the guys holding them, you sure you want to do this?” Bruce questioned. The reply of “Take him down!” came quickly. Bruce felt the first bullet enter his shoulder causing intense pain. He gripped his shoulder with a growl feeling the blood. “Big mistake… Name’s Bruce Banner and you just made me angry.” His eyes switched to green. Over five seconds his body expanded, exploding out of the body armor he was still in. The ground was quickly littered with the scraps of black armor as Hulk stood straight up in front of the line of men towering over them.

“Right plan B,” Natasha muttered.

Hulk let out a powerful roar at the men who were lowering their guns mostly in fear. Chances were they all wanted to beat up their squad leader for this. Before they could try anything Hulk was on top of them.  Hulk slammed the men into the walls grabbing the head of the man who had lead the group. Natasha rushed out of the room when she saw the destruction. She saw Hulk glare at the kicking man in his hands and knew instantly he was going to be put through a wall. Natasha ran to Hulk’s side, “Hulk put him down!” Hulk glared at Natasha with an angry growl. “He got the message, put him down.” She looked at the kicking man still in Hulk’s fist, these were her co-workers who were just following orders and she didn’t really want Hulk to kill them. “They’ve learned their lesson Hulk. Come on we have to go get Clint, he needs our help. Think you can get us out of here?”

Hulk continued to glare at Natasha but finally let go of the man letting him drop to the ground and nodding. He picked Natasha up in one arm and started to walk away, not really sure where he was going. “Hulk… Help this time.” He followed the directions Natasha gave to him until he was just about out. They entered the main entrance area the lift that led the way out was starting to go up to seal them in as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents started to flood the room. Natasha pointed to the lift and Hulk jumped for it landing easily on it and setting Natasha down.

“Well that was easy despite all those agents,” Natasha commented then noticed they weren’t alone. Several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were on the platform with them each aiming at Hulk and Natasha, “Spoke too soon.”

“Hulk smash!” Hulk yelled starting to run forward at the agents. Two of the agents had net launchers which released electrified nets pinning Hulk down with powerful shocks which caused him to fall to his knees, breathing heavily.

“Hulk!” Natasha watched and within a heartbeat she had her guns out and started to fire at the oncoming agent, “Only a few of them. Just need to make it. Come on Hulk get up.” Natasha smoothly moved around in the confined space of the lift and around Hulk using him as a barrier to help separate herself from most of the agents to pick them off one by one.  Eventually she had knocked all of them out or at least injured them enough to stop them from doing anything. She slowly approached Hulk who was still down from the first shock though a few other shocks were being sent through his body. “Guess you’re not the invincible tank everyone sees you as.”

“Hulk… Strongest,” Hulk replied through clenched teeth as the nets shocked him again.

“Don’t try to move I’ll get you out,” Natasha replied, “The net is causing your muscles to contract, it's reading when you try to move.” Natasha slowly moved around the net watching Hulk carefully. When she believed he wouldn’t move she cut key points of the net but avoided it when he did move so as to not get shocked. Eventually she was able to pull off the nets in one quick movement to allow Hulk to get up. “Let’s avoid those nets from now on.”

“Hulk can handle one net, rip it ‘part,” Hulk replied.

“But clearly more than one gives you trouble,” Natasha replied as the lift reached the top, “You good to go or do you need to rest?”

“Hulk strongest there is,” Hulk replied simply, “Hulk go.”

“Good. We need to get to Clint,” Natasha replied with a nod. _Hang on Clint just a little longer._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a boring part,   
> Next Chapter: Next part of the incident.


	9. The Incident: The Search

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 of The Incident that broke up the group. Pain ahead.

Natasha and Clint had gone to the rest of the Avnegers with what had happened while they chased King. They had told the story, the dart that hit Bruce, the order from Fury, the capture of King and the fact Bruce was missing when they returned with no trace. The entire group started to argue about what happened mainly between if they should have stayed behind with Bruce or not before the arguments became on if Bruce should have stayed behind or not. It took a while but the entire group calmed down and agree that the important thing was to find Bruce.

Everyone pulled in every resource they had to help with their search but there was no luck. Tony had poured his time into his tech to see if he could trace the gamma radiation Bruce had given off. Steve had gone through his ties to the government and gotten a chance to threaten General Ross who had no idea that Bruce was even missing. Thor had requested help from Odin and the other Asgardians but the location of Bruce didn’t matter to them, so he was left to searching on his own. Natasha and Clint had used the resources S.H.I.E.L.D. had but also took to hitting the streets in the hopes of beating clues out of lower criminals who might have heard something, the beatings had just become good stress relief. Days turned into weeks and then weeks into months with no leads on where Bruce had been taken or who had taken him.

Most of the group were starting to give up hope and Fury was getting annoyed insisting S.H.I.E.L.D. would continue the search constantly but there were other matters that needed the Avengers. Reluctantly they did return to fighting off villains and threats though every chance each of them got they demanded information on where Bruce was however everyone seemed as clueless as they were on the first day. Clint had been sitting around the tower avoiding everyone after finishing an emergency call that ended up being a waste of his time, being extra muscle on a prisoner transport.  He was more than a little surprised when Natasha burst into the room with a slight smile on her face, he hadn’t seen that smile in a while, and to be honest the two had avoided each other for the most part unless they needed to talk about what happened just to relieve themselves of some of the guilt.

“We got a break,” Natasha stated and within a second Clint was on his feet and grabbing his gear waving his hand for her to continue on with what she had found. “Someone is trying to sell off some blood on the black market, they claim it’s Hulk blood. Seems a lot of people are interested in buying it, certainly a good way to make a profit. It’s a long shot; this guy could be lying but…”

“It’s better than what we’ve had so far,” Clint replied, “Let’s see how expensive information has gotten.”

It didn’t take long for the two to track down the man selling the blood off. They had followed him to an abandoned building which caused Clint to grumble about how typical it was for someone to do business in an abandoned building. The two snuck inside listening to the man talk to a few others about the price of the blood and them questioning if it was real or not. Clint moved to get ready but Natasha signaled for him to wait in order to see how the man would reply.

The man got out a Geiger counter running it over a contained of blood showing the spikes in the radiation that were coming off of it, “I was there when this sample was collected from the doctor himself. Satisfied? Of course if you still doubt me there are other buyers.”

“Well I can say I’m satisfied,” Clint announced his presence after that, since to him it confirmed what he needed to know. He let loose a net arrow to deal with the buyers and get them out of the way. When the man selling the blood tried to run Clint shot at him, purposely pretending to miss to force him to turn when he wanted and wear him out from running.

“What’s wrong archer? Lost your aim?” The man teased but was quickly running out of breath. One last arrow caused the man to turn in a panic right into where Natasha was waiting. Within a second he was on the ground a bruise forming on his face from the impact of Natasha’s fist.

 Clint was slowly retrieving his arrows, his step feeling light from the hopefulness he had about this event. He walked over to where the man was laying, staring up in fear at Natasha who was making sure he didn’t try to run again, fact was the man was too tired to try anything. “Nah, hit exactly where I was aiming every time. I just find integrations go faster when guys like you are tired and unable to fight back.”

Natasha bent down reaching into the man’s pocket to get out the blood samples he had, three in total. She looked at them then down at the man, “You have five seconds to tell us where you got these.”

“I’m no snitch,” The man shook his head, he saw something flash past him landing between his legs, a hair below his crotch.

“Four seconds,” Clint commented, “Really not in the mood for games. Course if you still want to play them I can aim higher or you can see what she’s able to do.”

The man looked from the arrow to Clint then finally to Natasha and quickly started to explain. “My old boss, he fired me. I took the blood as uh, compensation? It was easy they had tons from all the work they’d been doing. We were gathering the blood of monsters like Dr. Banner and other creatures.”

Clint was ready to let another arrow fly at the man at that. Natasha simply stepped on his wrist and beat Clint to it, “Poor choice of words. That’s our friend you’re talking about, not a lab experiment and certainly not a monster. Now, where is he? And please tell me before I get bored.”

The man yelled in pain when Natasha stepped on his wrist and his eyes went wide with terror as he spoke. “Allegheny Mountains they carved a base into it and reinforced it so your scans wouldn’t get through.  I don’t know exactly where but I can point it out just don’t kill me.”

With that Natasha stepped off of the man and let Clint pull him up after retrieving his arrow. “Good news, you and I are going on a little trip before you find yourself in one S.H.I.E.L.D.s nice little housing units just for guys like you. If you’re good on our trip I might just be nice and send you a magazine or some lube whichever you need more at the time.”

The two dragged the man out following his directions to the mountains until they were outside of what was supposed to be the base he had told them about. The two called for the rest of the Avengers to show up and sent their informant off with a S.H.I.E.L.D. group to be dealt with. The group assessed the situation from outside staying out of sight.

“My scans can’t get anything on this place and I need to get closer before Jarvis can hack it,” Tony complained.

“Well according to my new friend,” Clint replied pointing at the entrance, “Once that door opens security will show up and threaten just about anything and anyone until they show ID. Issue is we don’t have ID. So we get close to it and security will start firing on us. Inside there should be some vents but to scout out where they connect out here would be next to impossible. I thought mountains were supposed to be snowy and rocky not… Green and thick with trees like this. I don’t believe this place deserves to be called mountains.”

“Complain about it later let’s focus on getting inside,” Steve replied, “We’ll need to split into two teams a few of us will distract them and the others can sneak in and find Bruce.”

“We’ll sneak in and find Bruce,” Natasha instantly volunteered herself and Clint, “This was our mess up, we’ll fix it besides if these guys think they’re getting attacked by the Avengers they’ll be focusing on making sure the three of you are in sight anyways. If one of you went missing they could try to move Bruce out or worse.”

Steve nodded, “Good point. Alright, wait for the battle to get heated then get yourselves inside and find him. We’ll call in for Fury to send more agents in when you two secure Bruce.”

“Deal,” Clint nodded moving over to Natasha’s side. The two waited and watched as the other three started their attack. Thor breaking open the door with his hammer and the security inside rushing out. Tony and Capt joined Thor and started to battle back the security that seemed to never end. Tony shooting down the automated security bots while Capt and Thor kept dealing with the armored men rushing out. When the battle seemed chaotic and out of control Natasha and Clint slipped by and inside the base. Clint kept his eyes open for vent entrances soon finding one and pulling himself in offering his hand to Natasha to help her up if only so the two wouldn’t be in the path of any of the security heading to meet the others. The two moved silently through the vents finding ways down to the lower levels of the base.  Clint kicked open one of the vents and dropped down into the hall, the smell of blood, disease and decay flooded his senses making him gag as Natasha jumped down to join him. “This has to be the place.”

The two moved down the hall slowly, they could hear the screams of pain and people begging for death or some sort of mercy. Inhuman roars of distress came from several rooms but above all of the voices and yells they could hear one they recognized all too well and it caused each step to become heavier and more painful. They shot each other a look both wishing this was just a nightmare that they weren’t hearing anything. Looking around the corner Clint saw two rather large guards, shooting them down neatly and quickly he nodded at Natasha to show the coast was clear. The voice they knew was yelling in pain but was also making threats that it seemed unable to back up. Promising to destroy everyone but unable to let Hulk out to prove his point or get anyone off of him. As they moved down the hall, alert for any more danger, they heard a sickening cry of pain and crack and the voice they had been following was now silent. They approached the clean, white door that seemed an insult to the yells and smell of the basement. Natasha had two handguns out and nodded at Clint who kicked open the door, and raised his bow, drawing the string back neatly. Natasha fired fist, two clean shots but after that she froze.

There were three men left in the room other than Bruce, two backed away in fear at the two people entering interrupting there work. The third stood behind Bruce with a knife to his throat. Bruce was strapped down to a chair, chemicals being pumped nonstop into his back to stop him from Hulking out while it seemed they were harvesting blood from his arms. Bruce’s body was covered in gashes and bruises that matched tools on a table not far from him. “One move and I’ll slit his throat.”

Both were frozen watching the figure, Bruce completely limp but still breathing and awake. The man was clearly telling the truth about his willingness to kill. Then it got worse, Bruce decided to speak though his voice was impossibly weak from the last blow he had taken just moments before, “Let him do it. Please, let him end this.”

Clint’s eyes landed on Bruce recognizing how broken he was, he shot a glance at Natasha knowing neither one of them planned on letting Bruce die without a fight though hearing him say that still hurt. Natasha shook her head, “Let him go and I won’t kill you.”

“What’s to stop you from putting a bullet in my head when I remove then knife?” The man asked, he pressed the knife closer to Bruce’s throat; a simple twitch would break the skin along the blade.

“Nothing,” Natasha admitted, “But I never said I was going to put a bullet in your head to kill you if you didn’t let him go. If you let him go you get arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D., simple as that and we never need to run into each other again unless you cause a problem that I have to clean up. However if you choose to kill Bruce then you’ll find yourself in a cold dark room for a very long time with only one visitor ever showing up, me. I will find out every single thing you have ever done to him, I will figure out every torture you used, every drug you put into him, every cut you made and I swear I will repay each one ten times over on you. I will keep cutting away for months just as you’ve done to him only far worse. I will not show you any mercy because you haven’t shown him any mercy. I will cut and I will keep cutting until there is nothing left of you. I will keep this up for a very long time, much longer than you’ve had time to cut into him. After all of that I will let you die slowly, because a fast death would show mercy which I already promised I won’t show you. It’s your choice.”

“You’re bluffing,” The man replied his hand shook after he listened to what Natasha said. He glanced from Clint who remained emotionless and then back at Natasha, “S.H.I.E.L.D. agents can’t do that, they’d never allow you to.”

“You really want to say I’m bluffing?” Natasha questioned, “I never said S.H.I.E.L.D. would know. They’d get down here and see the bodies of your friends and not find you anywhere. No one in this room would say that you were here. No one would know who you were or where you disappeared to.  No one will repeat what I said to anyone. Even if someone higher up in S.H.I.E.L.D. found out, do you think they’d stop me as long as I kept it off the grid? Think the lower agents would have the guts to say anything against me? Clearly you have no clue who I am if you think that.  Now then make your choice, drop the knife and step away from Dr. Banner or find exactly who the hell I am.”

The man held Natasha’s glare for a long time, longer than most people could. Slowly he lowered the knife away from Bruce and set it down on a table before taking a step back still watching Natasha, “Well played.”

Natasha kept the gun aimed the man refusing to give him a chance to try anything, if he so much as glanced towards a weapon she’d kill him. Clint watched the other two guys who had backed away when they had entered the room making sure they didn’t try. After a long moment of silence Natasha spoke up again, “All three of you out into the hallway, you’re under arrest by order of S.H.I.E.L.D. you will be escorted out of this facility and taken into custody. Clint, grab Bruce let’s get him home.”

Clint nodded putting his bow away even though it made him slightly uneasy, he trusted Natasha to watch his back though and handle any trouble that showed up. He made his way over to the chair Bruce was strapped down to and started to undo the straps, and carefully removing the needles in his arms and along his back. Once Bruce was unstrapped his body leaned forward, completely limp. For a moment Clint’s heart stopped thinking that Bruce’s body couldn’t handle the stress anymore and without Hulk everything failed. Clint carefully pressed two fingers to Bruce’s neck checking for a pulse, relieved when he felt one, though it was weak. He soon saw slight movements showing Bruce was still breathing and let out a sigh of relief. With that he gently wrapped an arm around Bruce’s waist, carefully avoiding the open wounds and bruises as best as he could. He pulled one of Bruce’s arms over his shoulders and started to carry the other man out. Natasha had moved into the hall with the three men. She looked at Clint and Bruce once they were out before turning her attention back to the other three men. Ordering them forward she kept a close watch on all three remaining a few feet back to give her enough space to react if they tried anything. Clint trailed a short distance behind with Bruce. They could still hear the cries of others being tortured in the facility. “S.H.I.E.L.D. will be here soon to deal with them,” Clint promised softly. The yells were painful and he’d like to have just gone and taken out everyone who caused them but getting Bruce out and to medical was more important.

They continued through the halls. “The others must have cleared a path, they tend to be good at that,” Natasha commented shooting a glance over her shoulder at Clint and Bruce as well as to make sure they weren’t followed.

Once they were near the exit Clint whispered softly, “Don’t worry bud, we’re not leaving you alone again.” They made it outside and to a quinjet with the others leaving the clean-up to S.H.I.E.L.D..

 


	10. Interrogation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint is interrogated by the new leader of SHIELD

Clint stared at the ground though it was too dark to really tell; there wasn’t really much else he could stare at or anything he could do. His arms were chained apart to stop him from being able to bring his hands together so he couldn’t pick the locks. As an extra precaution his hands were completely sealed inside metal gloves. He was forced to sit in a chair in the small, dark room which was always kept cold, he was fairly sure that if there was any light he’d be able to see his breath. Whenever an interrogation happened he was forced to his feet which were strapped to the floor at all time, it was the only time he was allowed to stand up. He was kept in this constant state only allowed to move when others allowed him to. As if for an extra precaution he was almost always kept sedated causing his limbs to constantly feel heavy and stopping him from thinking straight. He always knew when an interrogation was coming thanks to the drugs; they would wear off just in time for the goons to show up and punch him, and then leave him in pain for a few hours and finally drug him until the next round. He let out a rather painful cough feeling each bruise he had from his time here the drugs were starting to wear off. He was becoming more and more aware of everything; he could feel the dried blood on his face and along his body. He could feel where each bruise and scab was now but despite it all his body still felt heavy. Part of him wanted his body to just give up there was almost nothing worth this pain. He stared into the darkness trying to think if there was any other way out of this, when he went into this he promised himself he’d get out, promise to make sure she got out and he wasn’t going to back down from that.

He heard the door open causing him to glance up for only a brief second before the light from the hallway forced him to look away until his eyes could adjust. It didn’t do any good, the light in the room was turned on causing his eyes to feel like they were burning from the change. As they finally adjusted he looked up with a slight smirk when he saw it wasn’t the same guy who had been beating him since he was caught. The man who had walked in was a lot smaller than the usual guy. The usual guy was extremely large, on part with Thor easily for size though not for strength luckily. Clint had figured it wasn’t human just something could somehow shift to look like one, despite it not being as strong as Thor it was still stronger than any human. This one though was small, lean, he had nearly no muscle build. He had short black hair and strange dark blue eyes that unease Clint a bit. Clearly this guy wasn’t human either, though  it seemed unlikely he was the same as the larger guy. The two stared at each other in silence, Clint was fairly sure the guy was assessing him and the situation. Clint was the one to break the silence, “Heh, so they gave up on brute strength? Can’t wait to see what your trick is. Gonna at least let me stretch my legs and stand up?”

The man continued to look at Clint and waited as another man brought in a chair for him. With a slight smile he took a seat never taking his eyes off of Clint, “I thought we’d have a nice chat while sitting down. Now then, you’ve clearly seen better days I suppose they’re not treating you too great here. You know I could make your life a lot easier if you’d just tell us what we want to know. Are your secrets worth the pain you’ve endured?”

“Really? You figure that one out all on your own? No, it’s a vacation in here, really relaxing,” Clint continued to smirk as best he could despite the pain, “Standing up is one of the many things I get to look forward to here. The food tastes like old cardboard that was left in the sun too long. Yeah, I didn’t know cardboard could change taste by being left out in the sun but they somehow replicated the taste here and that’s just delightful. Then I get a massage from your big buddy, he’s not great at it but not the worst I’ve ever had.  Now I didn’t know that left kidney was that filled with tension, but I’m not expert on massages so I find it better not to argue.”

“Funny. I wasn’t referring to your physical pain,” the man replied simply crossing his arms over his chest, “I meant the pain you cause yourself. You being alone in this room with nothing but your thoughts, that can’t be very pleasant. I read your file, Agent Barton, everything you’ve been through. The things Fury made you go through. Everything before S.H.I.E.L.D., really very interesting stuff. Parts of it nearly broke my heart.”

“Aw did my little life story almost make you cry?” Clint questioned sarcastically, “Don’t worry, I’m still alive that means there could be a happy ending yet.”

“Oh I’m sure there can be. In fact I can ensure it if you just give up what we need to know,” The man leaned back in his chair watching the arrow carefully studying him.

Not gonna happen,” Clint shook his head, “No plans on turning secrets over to some weird creature like you, or anyone for that matter.”

“Too bad, would have made both of our lives easier,” The man shrugged like it was no big deal and didn’t matter to him, “I’ll get what I want either way. I always do.”

“I don’t think you’ve figured out who you’re dealing with,” Clint let out a weak chuckle, “because believe me the people you’re ticking off right now, they’re gonna rip you apart.”

“Is that so?” The man grinned, a rather wide inhuman one as he leaned forward, “And who do you think is going to rip me apart? Do you believe Agent Romanoff will? She left you here alone.”

“She didn’t leave me, I sent her away,” Clint shrugged as best as he could considering his restraints which wasn’t much, “but she is certainly someone you should be afraid of. In fact I think you are afraid of her right now. You figured that those files you have on her aren’t complete, which means that I’m your only link to maybe filling in the blanks which scares the hell out of you. You know she’s coming, and there’s no telling what she’ll bring with her to destroy you.”

“She left you Agent Barton,” The man shook his head, “You’re just denying that fact. You sent her away to start but she hasn’t returned, has she? Without help do you think she’d come here? Probably not, she wouldn’t risk that we both know she’s smarter than that. She has nowhere to find help anymore and thus you are left alone. You get to spend this time slowly wasting away in your own mind. To be honest I find the entire thing amusing, no matter what you do I’ll win. All you have control over is your place in the world when I win. Will you be living or just scraps to be given to the dogs? Hard to say considering how much help you’ve been so far though really it’s not looking well for you. Really Clint, I’d like to help you but the only way I can do that is if you give up.”

“Well, you’ll forgive me if I don’t cooperate with a creature that hides behind a false face,” Clint grumbled with a glare.

“Yet you cooperated with Dr. Banner for a while according to your file,” The man smirked, “I believe that’s the very definition of a false face. A monster or a man, each trying to pretend it’s the other.”

“Leave him out of this! He never hid behind a false face,” Clint was quickly growing frustrated as he pulled against the restraints with no luck. A jolt of pain shot through his body from his action forcing him to take a few deep breaths as he recovered. Through the breaths he continued, “You on the other hand, I have no idea about who or what you are but I know it’s built on lies.”

“Temper, guess you got that from Dr. Banner,” The man replied then thought about what Clint said, “I suppose I see your point, I did skip the introduction on who I am. They call me Tyrell, currently as you know I’m the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.. As for what I am, well that’s a little more complicated. You’re right, I’m not human I just appear human, I appear as what I need to be but you wouldn’t be able to fully understand what I am no matter how long I spend here. Let’s just say I am what I need to be in appearance. Really what I am in the most simple terms of your world would be well… a collector of strange, unusual and unique creatures. Though it is much more complicated than that, beyond what you could believe. All of those I have brought with me are part of my collection, for their protection I’ve made them appear human.”

“Well then from what I hear your hobby sucks,” Clint grumbled watching Tyrell closely looking at each movement. This was his only chance to learn everything he could about this guy. “Going around and collecting creatures? What you running a space zoo or something?”

“Not in the least,” Tyrell replied shaking his head, “I go to world that will reach the end of their lives soon and offer a chance to a few selected individuals that are unique to me. I allow them a chance to be something more and continue to live past the life of their world with me.”

“So you’re saying space Noah’s Ark, which let’s face it was basically a zoo on a boat?” Clint smirked.

“If you must bring what I do down to that level then yes,” Tyrell replied growing quickly annoyed with the man’s jokes. “But I told you it’s more complicated than that. I would have liked to offer you a spot among us Agent Barton, if you had been willing cooperate. After reading your file and seeing your skills first hand, just watching you get Agent Romanoff away from us like that, truly you both are amazingly skillful. In my crew I could easily make you far superior than what you are now. I could have given you more skills, more strength even weapons and resources that you didn’t know you could have, anything you wanted to better yourself. However you playing hard ball and don’t want to follow orders. Creates a problem from me you see. Of course my opinion could change if you would just cooperate now. You could be saved from what would happen to this planet. Agent Romanoff would be saved too of course, both of you would live.”

“What and be your new pet? No thanks you already have a lot that need attention and I’d rather not share it,” Clint replied with his usual grin, “do me a favor bring back Punchy McBruisefist because this talk is getting really boring and bordering on some kind of disturbing fetish. I don’t need to know about your weird creature fetish.”

“Oh Agent Barton, this was your last chance to make that choice willingly,” Tyrell shook his head as the door opened again to allow an agent to bring in a TV on a stand. Tyrell got up and moved his chair out of the way so the TV could be set in front of Clint. “I don’t tend to fail when I set out to do something, Agent Barton. I’ll be back to see you later, you can count on that. For now I’ll let you think over everything and reconsider my offer. Enjoy your stay.” With that Tyrell turned on the TV and left the room turning the main light off as he did so. Clint looked at the TV reluctantly. It had started to play missions and other jobs that had gone wrong in the worst way. Whenever someone left Clint behind or whenever Clint was forced to leave someone behind. A few of them where someone had died, all of them on a constant loop even the one he had avoided thinking about. Clint was left completely alone with his memories, the recorded conversation of that order that had gone so wrong on that mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah. Tyrell used to be a D&D character of mine, he was a rogue who was in it for himself. He evolved over time to become a villain I'd use in RPs and then brought into here because his updated personality worked for the idea I had. I'm sorry for the use of an OC villain but I like a villain I know well enough that will do what I need them to and Tyrell is that.  
> Also, poor Clint.


	11. The Incident: Broken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final part of the incident that has haunted Natasha, Clint and Bruce.

They had been back on the Helicarrier for a few days, hardly anyone had slept despite them all telling each other to. It seemed that whenever one of them agreed to go get sleep they would just find themselves lying in bed with their chest tight. Not matter what they tried they could never find a way to get any rest. Bruce had been taken to medical to deal with his injuries and blood loss not to mention to get the drugs out of his system. From what they were told he was supposed to be awake and able to see others today but it wasn’t confirmed as far as they knew he could still be in critical condition. No one could find the ability to sit still outside the medical facility each just found themselves pacing, fidgeting and mainly staring at the door waiting for anything.

“He’ll be okay,” Steve commented from where he stood watching the door.

Clint had sat down only to stand up for the tenth time since they arrived. “Capt you didn’t see what he was like down there.”

“Maybe not but I have seen Bruce get back up no matter what Hulk does to his life,” Steve replied.

“Clint’s right Capt,” Natasha commented, “this is different. I saw what they were doing down there to him.  He’s lucky to be alive but I don’t know what his mind will be like after all of that. It might be more broken than ever. I’ve seen what torture like that can do to a man; I’ve done it to some.”

“It’s Bruce,” Tony replied putting a hand on Natasha’s shoulder, “he’s our friend, if there’s something still wrong we’ll find a way to fix it.”

“You can’t just fix a human being, Tony,” Natasha stated with a slight growl, “he’s not one of your armors you can’t just tinker around and he’ll be okay. Things like that, they change who you are.”

“I never said it would be easy,” Tony replied simply trying not to be intimidated by the glare Natasha was shooting him, “I just said we’d find a way to fix it. We’d stand by him and do whatever we could to get him on his feet, that’s all I meant.”

“We still don’t even know if he’s stabilized yet they haven’t told us anything other than maybe he’d be okay today,” Clint let out a frustrated growl.

“If he’s not stabilized by the end of the day then I’m breaking into the cell of the man who did this and beating him senseless,” Natasha replied.

“Don’t think that’ll cheer me up but it’s worth a try,” Clint replied as he sat down yet again only for his leg to start bouncing. He couldn’t get himself to sit still. “What’s taking so long?”

“You cannot rush healing, friend,” Thor replied out of all of them he was the most still as he leaned with his back against the wall.

“How can you be so calm about this?” Clint nearly yelled.

“Because I have faced the jade giant that lives in that man many times and he has always come back,” Thor replied, “he has a warrior in him as does the mortal Banner. He will heal as he always does.”

Clint stared at Thor and shook his head, “Yep, Asguardian calm down sounds the same as Captain America calm down. Both of them don’t help at all.”

“If the medical staff of S.H.I.E.L.D. said we can see him today then I’m certain we can trust them, they haven’t let us down before,” Steve replied.

“You didn’t see him down there Capt,” Clint yelled, “It wasn’t your fault he ended up in there.”

“It wasn’t your fault either Clint,” Natasha walked over to Clint placing her hand on his shoulder.

“Nor was it yours Natasha,” Steve added, “You were following orders and went after the target so he couldn’t hurt anyone.”

“It wasn’t worth it,” Clint growled his body had tensed more than anything he wanted to punch someone as he thought about it. Really he wanted to punch himself for all of this, or have someone else punch him. He looked at the others almost wanting them to stop with their talk about how it would be okay and stop saying it wasn’t his fault. He held his head in his hands for a moment then the door opened. He looked up and it felt like time slowed as he saw the S.H.I.E.L.D. medical agent walk out to look at the group. They went over to talk to Tony in a soft whisper; now and then Tony nodded at them and whispered something back. As quick as it happened the agent disappeared back into the room.

Tony turned to the group and looked at the group at first, “Bruce is awake. He’s stabilized and the drugs are nearly fully out of his system. His other half can’t get out yet to help speed up the healing but that might be for the best considering how he gets .They want to move him into the containment chamber later today though just for when Hulk can get out. For now though we can see how he’s doing and talk to him but he wants to talk to Natasha and Clint alone first. He’s refusing to talk to anyone else or do anything until it happens.” Tony looked at Clint and Natasha and could tell that Clint’s heart had stopped at that.

Natasha nodded at Clint and the two got up and slowly walked into the medical area, moving past the rooms and heading straight to the room Bruce was being kept in alone. They paused outside the door and gave each other a reassuring nod, both wishing that whatever would happen would just be done and over with already. Natasha opened the door and the two walked in together taking a moment to take in the condition Bruce was in. An IV in his arm, bandages and casts along his body, they could tell where they had to operate in order to deal with internal bleeding and move broken bones. Bruce adjusted himself, wincing slightly at the movement, to look at Clint and Natasha. Clint found it hard to meet Bruce’s stare and he could tell that Natasha was having trouble holding it. He was used to the logical, thinking, generally good natured look of Bruce’s brown eyes but this time he saw nothing but anger, hate and disappointment. Both Clint and Natasha were finding it hard to breathe in the room from the tension as they waited for someone to say something.

Natasha was the one to break the silence, “Bruce… We’re sorry about what happened.”

Clint nodded in agreement, “It’s good to see you awake and alive. Natasha’s right, we know what happened out there was our fault. We should have stayed. We know there’s nothing that can make up for that mistake… Just we’re sorry.”

“Sorry?” Bruce replied after a moment of watching them, “Really, just sorry? After all this time you had to think about what you’d say to me the best you got was sorry, we messed up?”

“What do you expect us to say?” Clint questioned, “From what I know there’s nothing we can say that’ll make this right.”

“You got that right,” Bruce yelled in response trying to get up only to fall back onto the bed and the pillow with a groan of pain. “There is nothing, you can do to make anything right.”

“Look Bruce, it was a horrid mistake,” Natasha stepped in, “We’re both guilty but we’re a team we need to find a way to work past this, we need to make sure nothing happens again.”

“Oh, we’re a team now?” Bruce replied sarcastically, “oddly enough I thought that was what we were before not to mention being friends. But last time I checked teammates don’t leave each other and certainly friends don’t.”

“We had a job to do, Fury said he was coming for you quickly,” Natasha argued, “You knew if we let King get away then we’d lose him for a long time and a lot of people would have died.”

“And he really needed both of you on his tail,” Bruce crossed his arms over his chest looking away from them.

“You know the rules we couldn’t leave each other alone against a target classified as dangerous. We were following orders,” Natasha replied, “You knew the risk of coming with us, it’s a risk of being an Avenger.”

“I know,” Bruce replied softly still looking away, “I had a lot of time to think down in that pit when they weren’t ripping me apart. First week I watched the door, waiting for you to show up. All I could hold onto was the thought of that door bursting open and everyone getting there to help. Second week I started to wonder where you were, figured it must have been hard to find these guys but surely with all the resources you had you could do it. Third week started to wonder what I had done wrong. Started to think of why I went along on that trip. I started to wonder if I had said or done the wrong thing and now this was my punishment, waiting for people who wouldn’t show until I learned my lesson. Fourth week I blamed myself for everything. I blamed myself for going, blamed myself for getting shot, blamed myself for getting dragged there and I even blamed myself for no one showing up. By the fifth week I wanted you two to show up so I could rip you in half for letting me endure that pain for so long. Every single day the horrible pain that filled my body, the drugs might have stopped Hulk but they weren’t sedatives, I could feel everything they did. After that I just wanted to give up and die since it seemed you had given up on me.”

“Bruce we came as fast as we could,” Clint replied, “We hunted for clues of where you were it was pure luck we got a break as we did. We never gave up looking for you.”

“Clearly,” Bruce stated, “As I said, I had a long time to think about everything.” He waited for a bit then looked back at Natasha and Clint, “I’m leaving the Avengers and after this I don’t want to see you two ever again.”

“Bruce hold on a moment,” Clint was taken aback by it, completely thrown off guard by what Bruce had said he had hoped that it was just the drugs getting to the man, “you need to think about this. We just got you back.”

“I thought about it when they harvested my blood and demanded information from me. They asked me to betray everyone and I nearly accepted,” Bruce replied, “I’ve thought about it a lot.”

“Come on that’s not really thinking about it,” Clint argued, “Just think about it here for a while. When you’re back on your feet and we’ve put this far in the past. Once you remember being here and not that place.”

“You two left me,” Bruce replied, it was unclear if he had a stable mind at all anymore, “I went down and you just up and left me alone to them. You let them take me, let them do that to me. But I understand now, Hulk’s too big of a risk to let out and I seem to slow your mission down so much that it’s worth more to leave me behind. This isn’t where I need to be, I don’t need to be around people who leave me on orders. I’ve already arranged to be transported out of here tomorrow. I’m going far away and I don’t want anyone tracking me. As I said before, I never want you to see you two again.”

Natasha moved closer to Bruce thinking maybe she could use her skillset to get the man to reconsider speaking softly to him, “Bruce, please reconsider. This was a sloppy, mistake. I know it nearly cost you your life. I know how much this all hurt, I know better than anyone because I’ve been there. You have a right to be angry but leaving the group like this, it doesn’t help. Here there are people who care about you. We can make sure sloppy mistakes don’t happen again. Don’t leave; let us try to make it up to you.”

Bruce shook his head, “Get out. We’re not a team anymore and we are not friends. If I do see you again I won’t have drugs to keep my other half in and I will get angry.”

“Please, just think about what we said,” Natasha replied. She moved back over to Clint and put a hand on his arm to help get him to follow out. There was nothing else they could say to Bruce that wouldn’t just make the situation worse. Both had a false hope that Bruce would maybe change his mind. Natasha and Clint left the room together not saying anything until they saw the others and informed them of what Bruce had said, informing the group of Bruce leaving the team and reporting in to Fury.  Clint and Natasha were aware the others had all tried to talk Bruce out of it with no luck, the man had never changed his mind and he had left the next day without a word.

After that everything went south with the group, Natasha and Clint seemed almost somewhat lost taking refuge with each other and back at S.H.I.E.L.D., the group saw less and less of them. Steve had tried to talk everyone into staying and working it out without Bruce but no one seemed to listen. Tony barricaded himself in his workshop for days on end with no contact, completely misserable without his friend. Thor went home and was rarely seen again. All at once things just came undone for them. Bruce had gone as far off the grid as he could with only Fury really keeping a watch on where he went and keeping Ross off his tail for a while until he was far enough out that Ross wouldn’t find him.

Clint hadn’t seen or spoken to Bruce again, until the door of his cell was opened.


	12. The Madhouse

“Clint?” Bruce moved into the cell past the TV, that was still on. He glanced at it to see what it could be showing only to step back away from it. He recognized the images of himself in S.H.I.E.L.D. medical after the incident, the sound playing to accompany the images was from the incident itself. He could hear the orders go through from Fury that told Natasha and Clint to leave him behind and the promise of being there soon. Bruce stared at it for a long moment as the memories surfaced again, more aggressively than before. He shook his head and turned the TV off finally and moved closer to Clint. Natasha was in the hallway holding off the guards who were coming, before she had Hulk to help her but Bruce was needed to break into the system to get Clint out. The constant sound of gun shots reminded Bruce that he was on a time limit.

“Clint? You gotta answer me.” He crouched down in front of the other man who was still chained up. He was covered in scratches and dried blood, his eyes seemed almost lifeless to Bruce. “Come on you idiot don’t you dare ignore me.” Bruce shook him a bit, “We need to get you out of here.”

“Are you here to kill me?” Clint asked tilting his head slightly, “Or just here to play mind games like the last? Remind me of what happened?”

“What are you talked about?” Bruce questioned, “Snap out of it Clint we need to help Natasha.”

“Ha, heard that before,” Clint shook his head, “I’m not falling for it. Does your boss know you turned the TV off? Thought he liked it left on. Or you gonna get some revenge for the man you don’t even know and finally shoot me? Stinkin’ shapeshifters, always taking faces that don’t belong to you, playing mind games with everyone.”

“What have they done to you?” Bruce questioned out loud. He moved over the mechanism that held Clint and place and started to take it apart, “Come on Clint it’s me, actually me. You need to pull yourself together.”

“Heh, let me guess you’re another one of those decoys they have,” Clint muttered, “any moment the Natasha one is going to come through that door then something will shoot you both in front of me. Let me watch you both die, that’s been done before. Don’t tell me you’re running out of tricks already.”

Bruce didn’t bother saying anything else; he decided this really wasn’t the place to snap Clint out of this. He focused on getting the chains undone and getting Clint out of there. Natasha moved over to the doorway ducking inside the room to cover herself from enemy fire. She leaned out to take a few shots before glancing at Bruce, “Bruce, what’s taking so long?”

“Clint’s broken and there are a lot of chains, I might be a genius but things still take time to take apart,” Bruce grumbled freeing one of the Clint’s hands and moving onto the next. “I don’t know how to deal with the other without letting Hulk out but this room is too cramped to do it safely without hurting you two.”

“Starting to think we don’t have a choice,” Natasha replied, “we’re already in serious trouble with the guards as it is; we’re going to get hurt one way or another.”

“This is when you get shot,” Clint muttered, “Every time just two quick bangs. Then they leave the decoys in here for hours and then slowly bleed out so I can watch. Sometimes they beg for mercy, ask me to kill them to end the pain but I can’t help.”

“Clint we’re not decoys,” Bruce grumbled as he continued to work on the other arm as best he could, “We’re flesh and blood. Whatever they’ve shown you isn’t real.”

“Those images on the screen were pretty real,” Clint replied, his voice was dead, completely devoid of emotion, “I should know I was there when they were taken.”

“I know Clint,” Bruce muttered, “I need you to believe me just this once though. Please, we’re going to need you to fight.”

“Nothing to fight for,” Clint muttered again as Bruce freed his other arm.

Bruce walked over the Clint looking at the rest of the chains before looking at Natasha, “Tash you’re going to need to finish this. I can’t pick locks nearly as fast.”

“Then you’ll need to hold them off,” Natasha replied, “Not sure how good you are at doing that without the other half coming out to play. But if he comes out to play you’d release the other prisoners and there are some in this place who should be in here and will try to kill us if we let them out.”

“I don’t know starting to think the other prisoners would be a great distraction,” Bruce replied, “But less shooting at us probably a good thing. Either way we’re not moving without Clint and I can’t pick locks the way you can.”

“Damn it,” Natasha growled before taking a few more shots and tossing a hand gun towards Bruce which he awkwardly caught, “Try to hold them off.” She and Bruce switched places, Bruce firing the gun down the hall at times with calculated shots, though that didn’t mean they were always good or fast enough. Natasha set to work on the rest of the chains getting them off of Clint quickly. “Alright, Bruce grab Clint. We need to carry him to the pickup spot.”

“Right,” Bruce nodded and the two once again switched places as Bruce returned the gun to Natasha before grabbing one of Clint’s arms and pulling it over his shoulders, “come on Clint.”

“S’not real,” Clint mumbled, “It’ll just happen again.”

“Yep heard you the first time,” Bruce grumbled, “Don’t care you’ll figure this out soon enough. But at the very least stop being a completely dead weight.”

“Tyrell’s got a plan, he’s gonna win,” Clint continued to mumble, “gonna collect what he came for then…” He trailed off as he looked at the ground. Bruce started to drag Clint out of the room, barely able to hold the other man up. Natasha covered the two while Bruce moved down the hallway as he could with Clint.

“You’re not making this easy,” Bruce grumbled, “Really you’re not. Natasha, how much farther before we’re out?”

“Just around the corner, through the double doors, you need to hack their security system then you can do your thing without releasing the other prisoners,” Natasha yelled firing some shots at S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who were starting to charge towards the group.

“Great another door to hack,” Bruce continued down the hall quickly. He could hear the gun shots from both the agents and Natasha which urged him on. He made it to the door she had mentioned and glared at the pad going through the possible combination. He shook his head and set Clint down before prying the box open to look at the wires. He quickly ripped a few out and rewired a few others causing the door to unlock. “Ha, that was easy.” He picked Clint up again and dragged him through the door with Natasha right behind him and froze. There was a rather large group of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents gathered around all aimed at the three. “Well that’s just great.” Among the group was Tyrell who was flanked by a large male, easily as large as Thor maybe larger and someone Bruce thought was a female but couldn’t tell since they were in heavy armor. There were odd sounds coming from the group and they certainly weren’t human. “Tash, you wanna take Clint?”

Natasha didn’t move assessing the situation in her head as she looked at each agent who blocked their way.

“Well I’m glad you two have made this easy for me,” Tyrell grinned, “Now why not make it easier on yourselves. Agent Romanov if you’d be so kind as to drop your weapons and if Dr. Banner would be kind enough to set Agent Barton down we can make this all go a lot smoother.” He shook his head when Bruce and Natasha didn’t move and just glared at him. “Really Agent Romanov, must you play tough? Thanks to you we were able to find Dr. Banner a lot faster. It seemed it would have taken far too long before Agent Barton said anything other than how much he no longer like himself. Even then he might not have been able to remember where Dr. Banner was. Who knows? Without your help we might not have found him in time. I am glad Agent Barton dropped the attitude but he’s still at least a week away from being reformed into what I want him to be. Now if you would kindly return him to his cell for me, or perhaps he’d be kind enough to go there himself. Agent Barton, what do you think?”

Bruce shot a glare at Natasha when Tyrell talked about finding him but as Tyrell went on Bruce’s glare shifted to Clint. He grabbed Clint’s shoulder when he felt the man move and whispered through gritted teeth, “Clint, don’t you dare go back.”

“Now then, I have places for each of you but what will happen is all up to you,” Tyrell continued, “You can surrender now and then make it easy on everyone and become part of the collection or you can try to fight. Then you’ll be trained just as Agent Barton is. I will remove everything you are, take the fight out of you and then slowly place what you should be inside of you.”

“Been there, done that,” Natasha replied, “Haven’t done this though.” With that she took a shot at Tyrell yet what should have been a clear shot was stopped by a sudden move from the large male agent beside Tyrell.

“Hard way it is,” Tyrell shrugged. A gun went off from another agent though this shot was aimed at Natasha and was a clear hit. Bruce watched Natasha fell from a direct hit to the chest, what looked like a shot to her heart though it was slightly off, thankfully.  Tyrell tilted his head when Natasha went down, “Well that was a waste. I suppose two will have to do for now. Try not to kill them off.”

Bruce dropped Clint once Natasha hit the ground and didn’t get up, every part of him let loose in that instant. “Now you’ve made me angry.” Bruce’s body rapidly expanded as his eyes shifted to green. He saw some of the agents I the line falter, taking a step back. Others stood their ground and Tyrell just grinned with excitement. The pain of Bruce’s body couldn’t even come close to matching his rage at everything and he knew exactly where to aim it. _All of that rage from before. The anger of being left behind, the torture, living alone, being feared, everything, now it’s time to let that out and smash._ Hulk let out an enraged roar as he continued to grow, leaping at the agent who had shot first. His massive hand wrapped around their leg allowing him to toss them into another agent. “Hulk smash!”

“Oh this is wonderful,” Tyrell commented, “Always love to see fights between future collection and current. However we are short on time. Varou, Ace, please make this quick.”

The large man who had taken the shot and the woman beside Tyrell went towards Hulk. Within a moment the armor had been torn off of both of them. The large man, Varou as Tyrell had called him, had his body change rapidly taking what could be described as some form of Lycanthrope. “Hulk smash wolf man before.”

“Varou is a man from what was known as Earth-7085, a virus infected most of the world turning them into what you see before you. Packs formed and those who weren’t infected were food, simple as that. Most were beyond saving when I was there, beasts that only ever wanted flesh. Varou was a loner, and had found ways to control his hunger. Because of that I chose to raise him above all of that, I gave him a new name and even more control. In return he pledged loyalty to me and will stay by my side until one of us is dead.”

The woman Ace on the other hand changed dispelling an illusion put on her by Tyrell becoming an insect like creature with fanged jaws. Her skull was triangular and flat with a birthmark of a battle axe between her large eyes. “Marvelous isn’t she? Ace, as I’ve taken to calling her, was of Brood World. Found her when she was young before that world was destroyed. Now my collection is her hive after some modifications. She’ll do anything to defend her hive. Now then careful you two, I don’t want to kill them like the other one.”

“It’s happening again,” Clint muttered as Hulk charged at the two creatures. Varou met him head on, it was clear he wasn’t as strong as the Hulk but he was able to slow him down and hold his ground somewhat, his feet dug into the ground as Hulk grabbed his arms and pushed against him. Varou had slowed Hulk down enough for Ace to get onto his back, clinging to his massive body trying to bite and claw him. Hulk let go of one of Varou’s arms to grab Ace in an attempt to rip her off of his back though once he had let go of Varou’s arm the beast took a shot to claw into Hulk. Despite how thick Hulk’s skin was the enhancements Varou had allowed him to break it causing Hulk to let out a painful roar. Varou took the moment of distraction to get out of Hulk’s grip and pull one of his arms to the side, ripping into it constantly to stop it from healing. Ace took the shot at Hulk’s now injured harm to hit her stinger right into the wound. Hulk’s arm started to burn as the venom entered his system, his body would fight it off but it was still causing him immense pain, more than he was used to dealing with. Hulk ripped his arm away from the two but in doing so the gashes became larger and the two simply latched onto him again and continued their assault.

“Finish this,” Tyrell ordered, “No need to rip his limbs off. Take him down and let’s move on.”

“Every time it’s the same,” Clint muttered looking from where Hulk was fighting to Natasha. He remembered watched the decoys die in front of him, the sounds they would make. He didn’t want to watch Hulk fight anymore he just waited for those sounds to come from Natasha and remind him that this was all planned. He saw Natasha’s chest move just barely but there was no sound. There was no gagging, no big show of pain, no begging for death just that slight move. He could see the blood coming from the wound slowly but still there was no noise other than Hulk fighting. This seemed more painful than all of the other times. “If I’m wrong…” Clint finally forced himself up from the ground to his hands and knees. “Gotta try. Can’t just let it happen. Not tied down this time.” Even if this was all a trick he knew it’d be worse if he didn’t try something since he could this time.

His hand reached out towards the gun Natasha had dropped only a few inches away. “Hang on, I got this…” Clint gripped the gun slowly raising it up; it felt right in his hands. It’d been too long since he had gripped anything by choice really. He glanced around at the agents watching Hulk fight; no one was watching him so no one was going to stop him. He took aim, his breathing becoming staggered from his fear and doubt. His hand shook at first, “Damn it Clint, you’re a marksman, not just any marksman either the best. If you’re gonna do something do it right. One shot and this all ends.”

He had another moment of doubt, different from the others, one shot and this all ends. That was true in more than one way. He could turn the gun on himself, but if this was a trick then the bullets in it would blanks and do nothing, if this was real he’d leave Hulk to fight alone. He thought about the cell and how he wanted this all over, he didn’t want to go back but he still thought he’d end up back there. If this was real though, if he shot himself and just gave up then Hulk would fall and in turn Bruce who would end up taking his place in that cell. Finally he remembered finding Bruce and how he looked, he remembered what he looked like in medical, if he gave up right here then that would happen again only no one was going to save him this time. He thought of one final thing if this was real then they had just shot Natasha and she was at best barely alive beside him. That crossed a line. His hand stopped shaking and the fear and doubt left him. “This ends.” He closed his eyes and took the shot only to smirk when Ace let out a screech of pain.

Hulk’s eyes grew wide as Ace let go of him and fell to the ground leaving him only with Varou to deal with. Hulk smirked, “Time for Hulk to smash.” Varou was distracted by Ace falling giving Hulk a chance to grab his head. Hulk started to squeeze in order to force Varou to completely let go of him before tossing him through a wall. Hulk roared glaring at Tyrell who clearly was not happy about where this fight was going.

Several of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents moved to protect Tyrell from Hulk’s rage as Tyrell thought of the best way to defend himself or at least get even. “Agents take aim at Agent Barton, he’s chosen his side so remove him.”

Hulk had taken a few steps forward but at that order and seeing the agents start to turn on Clint, Hulk withdrew. Jumping over to Clint to guard the smaller man with his body, Hulk growled as the bullets started to hit him instead of Clint. “Hulk, we need to get out of here. We need to get Natasha help, grab her and let’s go. Please, we can’t fight them here.” Hulk stared at Clint who was still holding the gun and seemed uncertain but was pushing that aside to figure things out.

After a moment Hulk nodded and picked Natasha up, she was still barely breathing and her body was starting to give out. Hulk looked back at Clint who shook his head, wanting to slow the agents down so that Hulk and Natasha could get out however Hulk wasn’t one to listen to everything Clint wanted. Hulk shifted Natasha so he could hold her in one arm against his body before grabbing Clint’s leg and jumping. He went head first through the roof and landed away from the Madhouse. He looked over his shoulder to see if anything followed him but saw nothing.

Hulk started to jump again to head back for the military base and Bruce’s old lab, though about half way there he did get annoyed by Clint’s complaints about being carried by his leg and thus let the man hang onto his back.

* * *

 

Varou had gotten back up and walked over to Tyrell though he wasn’t in a condition to fight right away. “Leave them,” Tyrell ordered to the agents who were getting ready to follow Hulk, “We’ll be able to get after them soon enough. Varou call the others when you feel better we need to move full force and quickly if we’re going to make up for lost time. This has proven that the best way to get them out of hiding is to go for their teammates so that’s what we’re going to do.”


	13. Unexpected Visitor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group makes it back to Bruce's secret lab in the desert but Natasha is bleeding out nearing death and Clint is still in the middle of a mental break down trying to decide if this is real after what happened. But then this guy has to show up and change things.

* * *

 

Hulk had calmed down to let Bruce take over again after he had set Natasha on a table in the hidden lab. Clint had taken to sitting in a corner with his knees to his chest shaking as he tried to deal with everything that happened both being out of the cell and trying to convince himself that this was actually real. Bruce had gathered what medical supplies he could find and started to help Natasha in every way he could think of. He had retrieved the bullet from her chest, relieved that it had missed the heart. He tried to fix what he could but with the blood loss she had sustained he wasn’t certain how it would all work out since he certainly didn’t have a way to help with that. He had still stitched her up and left her to rest and had taken to pacing for a while. He knew Natasha was tough and wouldn’t go down easily but that didn’t really help comfort him. He finally walked towards Clint to see how he was holding up, leaning against the wall beside him before sliding down to the ground, “You convinced this isn’t a trick yet?”

“No,” Clint muttered into his arms, “For all I know they’re going to bust in here and kill you just to take me back. This could easily be him convincing me that there’s no escape. This guy isn’t like something I’ve faced before. Cruel, calculating, and an army of god knows what. I can’t begin to think of a way to beat him; I don’t think putting an arrow in his head would work. I don’t think I can win and thus I can’t believe this is real.”

“That really doesn’t sound like the Clint I knew,” Bruce replied, “I remember some airheaded archer who took impossible odds as just another test of his skill, another way to prove himself. Prove he wasn’t another man trying to pointlessly be on the same level as those he worked with. Despite all of the super solider, technical geniuses, aliens, mutants and of course monsters he continued to do everything to show he was just as good.”

“This is different,” Clint muttered, “They all in some way fought with their fists. This guy… I’ve fought guys who can get into your head, I’ve seen friends get mind controlled and fought them. This guy though seems to know where to hit in our head though. It's not control but more like getting sucker punched in the worst possible place.”

“This guy fights with the fist of others or well claws of others,” Bruce shrugged.

“He takes his time to rip everything away. First they beat you physically then they make you watch as your mind rips itself apart. They’ve shown me every mistake I made, played every time I followed an order when I shouldn’t have. They showed me those I left behind and those who left me behind,” Clint shook his head.

“The more you talk about him, the more he sounds like the others I’ve fought,” Bruce replied. “Ross had the same tactics, he’d use everything he had until Hulk was trying to recover then make sure he couldn’t get out. He’d put me in a cell and have me watch everything that had ever gone wrong over and over. He made sure I could do nothing to stop it, kept me in isolation with nothing but my thoughts.”

Clint waited for a few moments before asking, “How do you live with yourself after it? After they’ve pulled apart what you are?”

“At first I didn’t,” Bruce shook his head with a sigh, “then I started to wonder what would have happened if I stood by and did nothing. I questioned what would happen if I let it break me. The answer was that more people would get hurt and the list of things that I’ve done wrong would grow. I couldn’t let him win, I might have hurt people but he’d make me hurt more. Plus one time when I was in isolation, this group of idiots showed up to get me out. They had to remind me that if I can be blamed for the mistakes I’ve made then I also need to get credit for those I’ve saved and at least I was trying to do something right.”

“Bruce…” Clint muttered before looking at him, he waited for a bit one question going through his mind, “Why did you come back?”

“Natasha came and told me that Ross was helping S.H.I.E.L.D. and that they would come for me,” Bruce shrugged.

Clint shook his head knowing that while it was true it wasn’t what would bring Bruce back, “You would have just run if that was the case. Why did you run right into the lion’s den instead?”

Bruce thought about it for a moment before looking at the ground, “When she came to ask me for help, I didn’t see this person who left me behind. I saw anger, betrayal, fear and that horrible gut turning feeling of being completely alone. I knew those feelings; I’ve lived with them all my life. Seeing someone else have them and not just anyone but someone who I had once called a friend, that tore me up inside. Then she mentioned that you were in danger. I guess part of me decided to remember.”

“Remembered what?” Clint questioned.

“Each time I was in a dark room after I met that group of idiots, two idiots in particular kept showing up to get me out,” Bruce replied with a slight smile. After a moment the smile faded, “Plus there was that time, that entire incident. When you and Tash finally did come back for me, that moment stood out to me. I asked you both to let me die, let those guys just kill me. You didn’t. That anger in Natasha’s voice when she demanded that they let me go. Being taken out of that place, the gun shots, and the arrows, everything just trying to cut a way out of there. You both were stiff, keeping yourselves distant from your emotions as best you could and despite that you made sure that during the trip out I wasn’t hurt any further. You had avoided the bruises as best as you could. You seemed like you were just on a mission but that grip wasn’t of a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Despite everything that had happened and what I had asked you to do you wouldn’t let me die and you certainly weren’t going to let anyone else get a shot at me.”

Clint thought about it, not really wanting remember that entire incident, “I should have stayed with you so you would never have ended up in that place. I should have let Tash go alone to get King and waited for S.H.I.E.L.D. to show up. I should never have followed orders.”

“Our lives keep being full of us saying “I should have” but face it you couldn’t have let Tash go alone against a guy who had god knows what for weapons,” Bruce replied with a shrug.

“She could have handled herself until I caught up,” Clint replied.

“Perhaps but it really doesn’t matter now,” Bruce shrugged, “We’re sort of facing something a lot more dangerous.”

“I guess,” Clint muttered. After a long silence he looked over to where they had left Natasha, “How’s she doing?”

Bruce shook his head knowing that the question had been coming, “I honestly don’t know. I did everything I could considering my equipment and the injury. She might have lost too much blood for her body to recover and we’re not in a position to do a safe transfusion. If she was an average person I could tell you that she would be dead but considering it’s Tash I have no idea. We’ll need to wait and find out.” Bruce sighed and looked at Clint, “You really should let me look at your injuries though.”

“Not until we know if Tash is going to be okay,” Clint grumbled edging away from Bruce only to meet the wall.

“You can’t do this to yourself Clint,” Bruce replied, “You need to let me look at them and help you. Not sit here waiting to find out about Natasha. Letting yourself stay like this really doesn’t help anyone.”

“Heh, and you did when you left?” Clint replied softly, “You didn’t help anyone back then. You blamed us, didn’t let us help after that.”

“I swear to god if you don’t leave that alone right now and let me look at your injuries I will pound you into the ground until you can’t move or protest,” Bruce glared at Clint.

“I’d like to see you try,” Clint looked at Bruce, clearly just trying to get back to his old self somehow. His old self could just make a witty comment and shoot the bad guys, that's what he did. His old self knew that their team was the best and that there was always a way out. His old self could deal with this, he _really_ wanted his old self back.

“Well if you insist,” Bruce shrugged moving closer figuring he could probably pin Clint given his current state.

Clint smirked and readied himself for Bruce’s attempts, though each move he made was extremely painful. Fact was his body was still stiff from that cell, everything still hurt from what he went though. Turns out being locked in a cell and getting beaten up for a few days was not very kind on the body. The two were interrupted before they could even start their little fight by a far too familiar very low male voice, “Gentlemen if you would kindly restrain yourselves from ripping each other apart there’s work to be done.”

Bruce looked over his shoulder and Clint looked up at the new comer, “Fury? How?”

“Classified story,” Fury replied, “All you need to know is I’m here now but I can’t be here for long, if this Tyrell fellow knows I’m out in the open he will risk everything to come at me, even killing you three and losing a lot of ground.”

“He’s already taken that risk with Tash,” Bruce replied a touch on edge, escaping the Madhouse and then having Fury showing up, this had to be some trick. Not to mention more than anyone else, Bruce hated Nick Fury. Natasha and Clint had followed orders during that incident, Fury was the one who _gave_ that order.

“Yes but this would mean pulling his troops out of everywhere he has them,” Fury replied, “His corruption runs much deeper than S.H.I.E.L.D. in fact it runs just about everywhere. Think Skrull invasion only they’re not hiding as people already in the group, they’re all out in the open and no one is making a move against them. Hydra, A.I.M., S.H.I.E.L.D. all three for sure have Tyrell’s influence in them. The only difference is where he’s aiming them. He aimed S.H.I.E.L.D. at itself and thus its agents, Dr. Banner just got in the way. He didn’t intend to go after Dr. Banner until the others had finished their job. Hydra is aimed at Captain America and A.I.M. at Mr. Stark. They’re in a position to win all of their battles except the S.H.I.E.L.D. one thanks to you three. So I’m here to make sure they don’t win.”

“And how do you intend to do that?” Bruce questioned.

“By providing you with what you need, information, weapons, and of course this,” Fury held up a metal brief case and offered it to Bruce who took it. He walked over to a table and opened it with a smirk. “I had a feeling you needed that.”

Bruce reached into the case pulling out a blood pack, “You certainly are good at showing up when you need to with what we need.”

“It’s what happens when you know to watch everything in the world from the safety of a hidden bunker,” Fury replied. He was one of the best agents in the world for a reason after all. He'd survived this long with all his secrets and he knew how to keep surviving for as long as it took. It was no surprise that he was still watching the S.H.I.E.L.D. bases, they were rightfully his after all. “Agent Barton if you would kindly help me there’s a truck outside with a case of weapons. Figure you’d like one of your bows unless you intend to fist fight the end of the world.”

“Well that is an option,” Clint replied before slowly getting up using the wall to help him keep balance, “But why should I trust that you’re actually Fury and not a LMD?”

“Good question with no answer,” Fury replied, “Though if I was an LMD working for Tyrell don’t you think he would have used them before?”

“Point taken,” Clint shrugged.

“Not to mention if this was a trap you three wouldn’t survive no matter what you did,” Fury replied, “Now come on let’s unload that truck.” Clint followed Fury outside while Bruce set back to work on the blood transfusion.

“If this messes up, I swear I’ll put Fury through a wall,” Bruce muttered to himself. He was just generally angry that the man had chosen this late to show up to the fight, but still relief washed over him that he had shown up at all. Without him, Tash would probably be dead and without him they'd be a lot further behind Tyrell than they should be. They need what Fury had which meant putting orders and past aside and dealing with the main threat.


	14. Third Wheel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The calm before the storm.

Bruce had stabilized Natasha thanks to Fury and was now standing a short distance away. Natasha had woken up a few hours after Bruce had finished but was still lying down, mainly because Bruce demanded that she remain that way while her body recovered. Clint was standing over her whispering something softly. Every now and then Natasha would smile and say something softly back. Bruce was watching the two interact, each small smile, each soft laugh and whisper, it all seemed normal like back before the incident but something turned in his stomach uncomfortable with this.

Bruce smiled at first as he watched the two reunite. He watched Clint lean down and kiss Natasha, it was slow and passionate. Bruce could tell Clint’s doubts were gone, at least in that moment. His heart continued to sink but at first he wasn’t sure why. This was all oddly familiar to him though. Clint and Natasha had always been close, everyone knew that. On missions they might keep it professional, that’s what was expected of them but the way they moved around each other, almost dancing when they fought. The way they watched out for each other, constantly covering the other from anything and everything. No one had ever really talked about their relationship, there was always work to be done but now seeing the two kiss like that, it seemed to sum up how they felt about each other. They were in their own world at the moment, somewhere just for them.

Bruce turned away and walked away, staring at the ground until he was outside. He looked up at the openness of desert. He felt like he wanted to run, all of that open space with no one around. It was inviting him, pulling him in.

“Problem, Dr. Banner? Fury caught him off guard making him jump a bit. The other man had a scary habit of appearing behind someone when they were thinking of something.

“No,” Bruce replied in a growl after he regained himself. He didn’t want to look at Fury, couldn’t possibly make eye contact with that man.

“Really? Because it looks like something is on your mind. Looks like you’re thinking about running,” Fury crossed his arms over his chest, “Can’t blame you for that, after all what we are up against is certainly hard to beat.”

“Are you going to stop me?” Bruce questioned. Like Fury could stop him if he wanted to run, he could make it out of here easily. A few jumps and he’d be in another state, that’s how it worked. When he had to run he could run and he could run fast.

“No I just want to know if you’re running from the task at hand or something else,” Fury replied.

Bruce stared at the desert wanting to just head out into it, leave Fury behind in the dust and never answer the questions he had. However, he’d agreed to help for a reason and Fury had shown up to help them for a reason. Running wouldn’t make this problem go away, it wouldn’t make it better and it wouldn’t make it easier. Bruce sighed after a moment still watching the open space before him it still looked inviting, “Clint has Natasha, Tony has Pepper, Thor has Asgard and everyone there not to mention Jane here, Steve has everyone in America that loves him. No matter how you slice it I’m the odd one out. I will always end up alone. I end up getting hated because I’m a monster. The world will cheer the couples on, cheer their heroes on but when it comes down to it, who cheers for the monster? Who sticks around for the monster after the fight is done? I never wanted to be this; I wanted to do good in the world but not as a monster, as Bruce Banner. Yet, when I try to change something and go along with the group I am always the third wheel, the odd man out. I’m not needed unless something goes wrong. Even then I’m not needed, Hulk is. It’s a cycle that doesn’t end. Get called to save the world, become a monster, save the world, become a scientist, get left behind.”

“I see. Seems like a stupid issue but we both know you won’t listen to me. We still need your help here Dr. Banner, so try to hold off running until we stop our current problem,” Fury replied patting Bruce on the shoulder. It was true, Bruce wouldn’t listen to Fury, he never would. Fury left Bruce alone with his thoughts, still confident that the man would at least stick around.

After a bit Bruce nodded just to himself and walked inside watching floor until he walked right into Clint. He had been waiting a short distance away from the exit to the lab his arms over his chest and that arrogant yet somehow charming smile on his face, “You know you’re an idiot right?” Clint lightly punched Bruce in the arm as the other man looked up to meet Clint’s gaze.

“Not really,” Bruce replied clearly ready to point out that his IQ couldn’t be measured so to call him an idiot would be completely incorrect.

“You are,” Clint pointed to his ear, “S.H.I.E.L.D. hearing aid. Sonic arrows destroyed my hearing years ago. The aids allow me to hear a lot more than I used to, including your little talk with Fury out there.” The arrogant smile seemed to slow disappear becoming just a genuine slight welcome smile, “You’re not a third wheel Bruce, and you’re an idiot if you think that.”

“Third wheel gets left behind,” Bruce replied. Despite his attempts to get over what happened he never really could. Those nightmares were still in his head, he could still recall each cut that was made. The room, the smell, everything was just as fresh in his mind and would not go away. Sure they’d come for him, yes he understood why he was left behind but it still hurt. It still plagued him.

“You’re right,” Clint replied, “Which is why you’re not a third wheel. We always came back for you.”

“Clint’s right,” Natasha staggered over, still needing time to recover, she stopped beside Clint, leaning heavily on him to keep her balance, “he told me what you said. You are an idiot. Bruce, no one ever saw you as a monster or a third wheel, only as a friend. When everything went wrong I didn’t track Hulk down I tracked you down to ask for your help. Hulk couldn’t help me, not in the way you did.”

“After you left us,” Clint started off again trying to think how to word what he had on his mind, “well, the team fell apart as you might have guessed. Tash and I went back to S.H.I.E.L.D. and tried to just work, do anything to deal with what happened. Maybe we were hoping that whoever was helping the guys who took you would show up again so we could just let the pain we felt out on them. Tony locked himself away in his workshop without you around. Thor left and Capt, well, he tried to hold us together but it didn’t work. Fact was we all missed you, Bruce. We weren’t sitting around wanting Hulk back, we wanted our friend.”

Natasha nodded in agreement, still relying on Clint to keep herself upright, she was certainly looking better though. “A third wheel doesn’t break a group apart when they leave.”

Bruce wasn’t sure what to feel with all of this being tossed towards him. Part of him wanted to say they were just trying to make him feel better, that this was all pity to keep him around until they didn’t need him. Another part of him wanted to believe it. The Avengers had broken up shortly after he left though, he could remember the news reports on it and politicians promising that the world was still defended. Steve showing up to help ease everyone’s mind about the Avengers being gone and how he was still there for them, even if the team wasn’t. He’d just assumed that Tony had done something stupid and other factors came into play, not that it was him leaving that caused it. Maybe other factors still came into play though to push the group apart, it couldn’t have just been him leaving.

“Also friends are never third wheels,” Clint shrugged, “Defeats the purpose of having a friend. Now do we have to hug this out? Because you know I will.”

Bruce smirked and shook his head, “Let’s forget the hug it out part.”

“Alright we’ll save that for later when the world isn’t ending,” Clint replied, “But it will come. Mark my words Banner, hugging it out is still on the table and will come.”

Bruce shook his head again then pointed at Natasha, “You should be resting.”

“Rested long enough,” Natasha replied, “I’ll be fine once we get to where we’re going. Where are we going?”

Fury walked over to join the group again in order to answer the question, “Excellent question, my understanding so far is that Hydra is moving in to attack Steve today. They’ve set a trap to have him speak and open a new museum dedicated to him. In reality everyone who shows up will by a Hydra agent and inside is several traps made to tire him out before ultimately catching him. After that they’ll deliver him to Tyrell. A.I.M. is about a day away from hacking into Mr. Stark’s systems. After that they intend to invade his home, hack his armor and deliver him and the armor to Tyrell. You three will need to stop both plans.”

“So we head for Capt first,” Bruce replied, “Tony’s system is constantly updating so he might be able to give us more time without even knowing it which means Capt is in the most danger.”

“Exactly,” Fury nodded, “You three head into the museum and disarm as many of the traps as possible. Expose the Hydra agents and get Capt out of there. From there head as fast as you can to get Mr. Stark before A.I.M. attempt anything.”

“You make it sound so easy,” Clint let the sarcasm in his voice be extremely obvious, “Tyrell won’t make it that easy. He’s controlling these groups with members in them already and anyone on his team we can bet isn’t human. They might look human but that’s from whatever magic, or science, I have no idea what he’s using let’s just go with the whatever stuff Tyrell uses. The point is we could run up against anything and not know it.”

“There’s no way to tell what’s there,” Fury nodded, “But you three got out of Tyrell’s Madhouse in one piece, for the most part, and these fights tend to be on ground you’re ready for.”

“What will you be doing while we do this?” Clint questioned.

“I’ll be trying to dig up more information and finding a weak point in Tyrell’s defenses,” Fury replied.

“If you’re doing that can you keep your eye out on something for me?” Clint questioned, “Tyrell mentioned when he took me that he was trying to save a select few. He said that the world was near the end of its time. I don’t tend to listen to mad men but if there’s even a sliver of a chance he’s right then these fights might be a distraction. Can you just keep your eye out for anything bigger?”

“Always do,” Fury replied, “I’ll see what I can dig up on if the world will end or not.”

“Great one other question: how are we getting there?” Natasha questioned.

“There’s a Quinjet outside,” Clint replied, “Fury brought it with him.”

“Fury brought a Quinjet with him?” Bruce questioned, “What’s wrong? Flying car too noticeable for these guys? Wanted something a little less obvious?”

“I work with what I can get my hands on, Dr. Banner. Besides the flying car is mine and mine alone,” Fury stated, “Figured you might be able to help it get under the radar.”

“Not my thing,” Bruce shook his head, “I can try but Tony is the mechanic. I can at least maybe shield it from them tracking my gamma signature on it.”

“It’s the only way we’ll get there on time,” Clint shrugged, “Let’s grab our stuff and go.”

“Good luck Agents, Doctor,” Fury nodded and with that took his leave of the group.

Clint made his way over to the crates that he and Fury had brought in and opened one. “I Never thought I’d be this happy to see our S.H.I.E.L.D. suits. But really haven’t had a chance to change into anything for way too long.” He moved onto the next crate and opened it, “Tash your stuff is here.” He moved over to the last one and grinned as he pulled out one of his old bows, “I wondered where this one had gotten to. I was sure one of the junior agents stole it from my room after I got the new one. I put them through hell for it when I should have put Fury through hell. Still, glad he took it now.”

Natasha staggered over to look at what had been brought along, “I can’t believe how much I missed this stuff.”

“Well you two get changed, I’ll go check out the quinjet to see what I can do to maybe help us hide,” Bruce shrugged, there was next to nothing he could do and he knew it. He only knew what Tony had showed him and that would have to be enough until they could get Tony.


	15. The Museum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint, Natasha and Bruce go to save Steve from an ambush at a new museum.

Steve hadn’t thought much about the presentation he’d been asked to give. He had shown up in his uniform with his shield on his back to give a speech and open the museum. Good publicity for an opening to have Captain America there not to mention the museum was dedicated to him. Steve wanted to convince the owners to change the museum though, he didn’t mind it showing his history and heroics but he thought it should be expanded and just become a museum for all heroes to celebrate the work everyone had done. For now though he wasn’t going to complain as he finished up his usual speech. He was used to giving them and they always came easily to him and seemed to inspire people, at least for a few minutes. He looked at the cameras, the reporters and general population that had gathered round but something didn’t sit right in his gut.

He’d done these things a million times but the faces he looked at didn’t seem familiar, he didn’t think he could name a single one of the reporters which was very odd. He scanned the crowd looking for one familiar face and finally landed on one though not one he was expecting. _Natasha?_ He was aware of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s hunt for Natasha though he was never sure what for, some ludicrous crime that made no sense to him. He had refused to join the hunt knowing full well that if Natasha had broken a law then it was for a good reason. For her to risk being out at a public event though, there had to be something serious going on. His eyes stayed trained on her for a moment longer, noticing a slight nod from her. _Guess something is up._

He waved to the crowd with his usual smile looking away from Natasha so as not to draw attention by the time he looked back she was long gone. He knew whatever this was about she’d find him again, she always did. Each time she disappeared she would show back up when he least expected it.

Steve turned towards the door of the museum moving to open it with some politician standing beside him, one of the Senators he supposed but once again he couldn’t place him. Steve gripped the handle of the thick wooden door, though it was reinforced with metal the wood parts were chosen just for their looks. Steve smiled again as he stood in front of that door the cameras flashing behind him, he turned slightly to wave again to give the cameras a better shot instead of his back side. That was when the smell hit him though it was faint and certainly coming from inside. It was like a mix of pig iron and ether. Only one creature Steve had ever met had that smell.

_Hulk? Natasha and Hulk here? This isn’t going to end well._ Steve gripped the handle and stayed there. All eyes on him waiting for him to open the doors but he didn’t want to. His stomach turned, he could barely make out the words of the man beside him who was asking if he was okay. Steve wasn’t an idiot for Hulk to be here and not making any noise something was being planned. For Natasha to risk being here with so many cameras around, whatever was going on was going to be big. With how closely he felt he was being watched for past short while, everything started to pile up. _Is this a trap? Only one way to find out._

Steve took a deep breath, his shield was on his back so he could quickly be ready if this went south but possibly not fast enough. _Natasha won’t hurt me._ To be honest right now he wasn’t sure about that. _Hulk won’t hurt me, if he was going to he’d be rampaging by now. So then if they won’t then there has to be someone else._ He finally pulled the door open, whatever trap this was he needed to spring it to get anywhere then he could find who set it and deal with them. There was a soft click but nothing came. He could feel everyone behind him holding their breath but he wasn’t sure why yet, he was the one with the pounding heart. Clicks don’t tend to lead to good things. After a few moments a voice in the crowd came, “Hey what’s going on? Why’d nothing happen?”

Steve turned to face the crowd who seemed confused but not at the voice, they seemed to agree with the voice. Another voice came from inside the museum, “Huh, what’d ya know Bruce was right. Pull out those wires and nothing but a click.” Steve recognized the voice fairly quickly, Clint.

“What you had reason to doubt him?” That was clearly Natasha.

“Well when he said that he thought it would work but could explode I had my doubts as you might understand. I don’t like sticking my hand in things that might explode,” Clint replied.

“Natasha? Clint? What’s going on?” Steve called watching the group of reporters in front of him whisper to each other.

“Steve you might want to come inside, it’ll be safer in here,” Natasha called out in response.

Steve watched the reporters start to put their equipment down taking it apart to show hidden weapons. Steve backed up into the museum, once inside Natasha pushed the door closed. Steve looked around at Natasha then at Clint who was standing beside a rather calm looking Hulk. “Any of you want to explain what’s going on?”

“Long story short, your buddies out there are working for Hydra, this entire place was a trap set up by an insane alien who took over S.H.I.E.L.D. Clint disabled the trap then kept Hulk calm so he wouldn’t smash through and wall and into the crowd. I pick pocketed the Hydra agents to make sure I could get the remote detonations of their explosives off them and now we’re barricading ourselves in here while our new friends get their weapons ready to come in here and take us all down,” Natasha quickly explained.

“There’s an insane alien running S.H.I.E.L.D. That oddly explains a lot,” Steve replied pulling his shield off his back, “We got a plan?”

“Well I was thinking we send Hulk out to negotiate diplomacy personally,” Clint replied, “His fists tend to be an effective diplomatic strategy.”

“No, our alien buddy will have made sure his buddies are equipped to deal with Hulk we need to be careful,” Natasha replied, “Thus far our only plan is to bottle neck them in here and hope we can split the groups up until we can get a clear shot to our quinjet to go get Tony before A.I.M. make their move.”

“Tony’s in trouble too?” Steve questioned.

“He will be,” Clint replied, “Anyways sounds like the plan is up to you Capt.”

Steve heard the Hydra agents start to approach the door as he thought, “Hulk find the heaviest thing you can and block the door with it. Natasha we need to cut the power so they’ll be blind in here. Then we’ll need to split up and go different directions, one of you goes with Hulk down that hall and the other with me down that one. They’ll split up to find us and we’ll be able to take them out.”

Hulk nodded grabbing a display, luckily with Captain America being a war hero there were tanks granted they were tanks that didn’t work but were still very heavy. Hulk smashed it in front of the door to block the way in.

“Dibs out on going with Hulk,” Clint piped up, “No offense big guy. We’ve been keeping each other company for a long while already; only fair that Natasha gets a chance to enjoy your company.” Clint smirked at Natasha who shrugged.

“I don’t mind,” Natasha moved over beside Hulk, “Kind of fun to watch Hydra agents run from Hulk. Besides the two of us have been getting along just fine. Come on Hulk, let’s go wait for them over here while Capt and Clint make their own plan.” Natasha waved for Hulk to follow her to their side of the museum. Clint watched her go concerned about the bullet wound she still had healing, hoping that Hulk would be able to protect her and stop her from opening the wound up. That really was his main reason for backing out of going with Hulk though he didn’t want to admit it; Natasha would bite his head off if he did.

“Well then soldier you’re with me,” Steve replied patting Clint’s shoulder snapping him out of his thoughts, “I’m glad to see you again Clint. I was worried about everything I heard. All the communications between the team have been basically none for a while now and when S.H.I.E.L.D. mentioned that Natasha was wanted but wouldn’t say anything about you I was concerned you had gotten yourself killed.”

“Yeah, well,” Clint replied as the two walked down their hallway, “not for lack of trying.”

“I’m kind of surprised that Hulk is here with you two,” Steve commented, “I’m not complaining but last time I checked you three weren’t on a speaking basis let alone a helping each other one.”

“A lot of things have changed in the last little while,” Clint replied, “S.H.I.E.L.D. were trying to break me and they nearly did when Natasha showed up with Bruce. The two had somewhat patched things up before coming to get me.”

“I’m glad for that,” Steve replied, “the whole business it always bothered me.”

“You’re not the one who had to get chewed out by Bruce and hear him say how much he hated you,” Clint replied, “You didn’t have to live with the guilt.”

“You think the rest of us never felt guilt, Clint?” Steve questioned he was both surprised and offended as he did so, “Everyone felt bad about what happened. Bruce nearly died and despite us coming in to help him we still lost him to that event. We all wish we had done things differently back then.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Clint replied, “He told me that he helped because Tash reminded him of himself when she asked for help. That and the fact that we went back for him and wouldn’t let him die.”

Steve nodded in understanding and walked in silence for a short while before stopping for a moment, “Clint, I know this really isn’t the best time but when it comes to that incident. Do you ever wonder what happened to all of that blood they got from Bruce? They had him for so long and only a few bags were being sold on the black market. So where did the rest go?”

“Who knows? Hopefully to some storage lab where they’ll be forgotten or maybe someone used them and the radiation killed him,” Clint replied, “Really it’s been so long I can’t imagine anyone still having them sitting around without trying something. I just hope they’re destroyed and if I ever do find them I’ll beat the guy who has them into a bloody pulp and destroy the blood myself.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Steve nodded and looked around at the room they entered. It seemed to be a section where they were showing off vehicles and airships that Steve used or fought. There were plenty of hiding spots amongst the exhibits, “Man these things bring back memories. Go find some high ground we should be able to pick them off here if we’re careful.”

“Just in time,” Clint muttered as the sound of the front door being forced open echoed through the museum. Clint walked around to one of the air ship displays and started to climb up the side to get to higher ground where he could snipe. “This is it.” Clint prepared himself watching the entrance of the room and remaining aware of where Steve was below him. Steve edged around the exhibits keeping low and moving silently. There was an angered roar, at first Clint was sure it was Hulk but when it sounded again he realized it was different. A second roar joined it but once again it wasn’t Hulk’s.

“What the?” Clint muttered wondering what was going on. There was the sound of something large moving towards the room. Clint shot a glance at Steve who watched the doorway. Within a moment a few Hydra agents walked in but right after them came Abomination. “So they have a few tricks up their sleeves,” Clint muttered again keeping his sight set on Abomination. A few more Hydra agents entered the room spreading out to search for the group. He glanced down at Steve who was quickly moving and doing his best to stay out of the way until he got a chance to take some of the agents down while working out a plan to deal with Abomination.

Something didn’t sit right with Clint though, one roar would explain Abomination but he had heard two. His mind raced wondering what the second creature in the building was and the knowledge that it was heading for Hulk and Natasha made his stomach turn. “They’ll be fine. Focus,” Clint’s aim focused on one of the Hydra agents who had moved out of sight of the group. He released the arrow and as soon as he did, he didn’t wait to see if it would hit he started moving to find a new spot to hide to get another shot.

Abomination sniffed the air as one of the Hydra agents fell to the arrow. The other agents ran over to see what was going while Abomination relied on his enhanced sense of smell to find out what he was dealing with and pinpoint it. He looked up at the spot where Clint was just a moment before and growled when he saw nothing. “Some of them are in here but not the animal,” Abomination spat.

“Hulk’s a lot less of an animal than you are,” Steve yelled tossing his shield at the hydra agents who had gathered by their fallen companion. His shield bounced knocking a few of them out but now he was out in the open and in clear sight. Steve shot a glance up trying to spot Clint’s new spot knowing he was going to rely on his back up.

“Captain America,” Abomination growled, “I was hoping I’d be the one to find that monster but I suppose destroying you will have to do. My new friend will deal with that monster.”

“We can’t destroy him,” one of the Hydra agents commented, “We need them alive so says the boss, your master.”

Abomination looked annoyed but growled, “Fine but that doesn’t mean I can’t break them a little and have some fun.” He started toward Steve figuring that this would be an easier fight for him.

As Abomination moved towards Steve, Clint released one of his many trick arrows at it. “Hey, ugly you forgot one thing.” The arrow latched onto Abomination’s back, “Both Capt and I have spent time on the team with Hulk, and he’s a lot harder to pin down than you are. But we’ve had to develop a lot of tricks to deal with creatures like you. I find shock collars work the best.” Clint smirked as he triggered an electric pulse from the arrow, shocking Abomination. It stunned him long enough for Steve to start punching and get the upper hand. Clint prepared another arrow, explosive head this time. He knew he had to keep Abomination on the defensive until Steve got a shot at knocking him out. Once it looked like Abomination was going to make a move against Steve to stop the punches, Clint released the arrow. He watched as the explosion lit up the room. Smoke now blocking his line of sight he didn’t notice Abomination ripping up a piece of the floor and tossing it at him until it was too close for his taste. The large piece of rubble hit Clint’s arm hard and forced him to drop his bow to the ground. “Not good.”

While Abomination focused his attention on Clint, Steve got a change through the smoke to attack the large figure in front of him. Leaping up into the air he smashed his shield down onto Abomination’s head. The creature toppled over but while Capt tried to catch his breath, through the smoke one of the remaining Hydra members snuck up behind him and returned the blow. Steve fell as Clint tried to see what was going on through the smoke. He coughed a few times, his arm limp from the impact of the rubble. He soon saw the Hydra goon standing over Steve who was trying to get back up after the very brief moment of unconsciousness. Clint saw the gun get raised against his friend and swallowed hard. His heart racing stopping him from thinking straight and when you can’t think straight and a friend is about to get shot right below you, there’s only one answer. Clint jumped. He thought about how much he hated Hydra and had a touch bit of hate towards Steve for getting into this situation, mostly Hydra though. Also sort of hated himself. After all, if you could toss just about anything else at someone and hit them, like maybe a rock or even getting off one of the trick arrow heads and throwing it, that would be the smart thing to do. But noooo he had to go and throw himself. Yeah, good plan. Clint landed hard on the Hydra agent, knocking him out rather painfully. At least he didn’t shoot Steve but now Clint found himself lying on his back side on top of a Hydra agent. This really wasn’t how he was expecting to ever spend a day.

Steve stood up and coughed a few times from the smoke and dust that had been disturbed. He soon offered Clint his hand to help the other man get up. “The best you could come up with was “hey ugly”?” Steve questioned.

“You try coming up with clever insults when you senses are being bombarded by that smell,” Clint commented as he took the hand and with a very loud groan of pain got up. “Okay next time you get cornered by a Hydra agent… Don’t expect me to jump on them for you.”

“Why didn’t you just throw something?” Steve questioned.

“I’m a Master Marksman and have skills with pretty much every ranged weapon,” Clint replied, “If I can’t hit something with myself now and then I may lose that title.”

“You didn’t think about it until you were falling, did you?” Steve raised an eyebrow.

“Shut up,” Clint grumbled, “How do you think Hulk and Tash are holding up?”

“Well I’m sure neither of them are tackling Hydra goons with their back side,” Steve smirked.

“I’m not saving you ever again,” Clint grumbled.

* * *

 

In reality Hulk and Natasha’s situation was close to that of Clint and Steve’s. Natasha had taken on the Hydra agents with help from Hulk who ripped up the floor to create a wall for Natasha to hide behind and avoid bullets. Then Hulk had to face Hydra’s new pet, Windigo. Hulk had fought the creature before but it was just as powerful as it was before which unfortunately for Hulk was very strong. Its hardened talons broke through Hulk’s skin with each slash. Each time Hulk broke something, it healed. Now Hulk had gotten it by the wrists and was pushing against it but it was pushing back. The two weren’t moving though they kept pushing against each other but found themselves even. Hulk was trying to maintain control of himself instead of losing to rage which would result in him hurting everyone, but it meant he was equal with the white creature before him.

Natasha was unsure how to assist it seemed that her bullets just bounced off the skin of the creature similar to how they bounced off Hulk providing her no assistance. She’d considering an electrical charge but the chances of her hitting Hulk with it as well were too great and such a shock could cost them the battle or push Hulk over the edge. For now she was trapped watching and trying to come up with some sort of plan but most of the answers she could think of would hit Hulk as well.

The creature grew bored with pushing against Hulk so it neatly side stepped and caused Hulk’s forward motion to continue causing him to fall. Hulk started to bring the creature down with him since he had a grip on its wrists but one hand let go as a reflex to try to catch himself. The Windigo, though falling, now had one hand free and rammed it into Hulk’s exposed back. The claws sunk in deep causing Hulk to roar in pain as his green blood escaped from the wound and started to pool on the floor. Hulk went limp for a bit, his body trying to recover from the shock of the sudden injury, even Hulk’s body took time to adapt to such a shock.

Natasha winced when she heard Hulk’s roar, it was the sound of pure pain. She felt useless seeing this happen, unable to match the strength of the two creatures but seeing the claws jammed inside Hulk she finally started to have a plan. If the claws could break Hulk’s skin, then they should be able to break to skin of the Windigo. “Hulk! You need to get up and listen to me. Show this thing why you’re the strongest!” She knew she had to get Hulk to focus and to get even angrier than he was. “Don’t lose your title to an overgrown ape.”

Hulk growled, bracing himself against the floor despite the pain. He pushed off with both of his arms, tossing himself back into the creature. The sudden movement of the creature’s arm inside his body made him roar in pain again but the sudden force against the Windigo also forced it to pull its arm out and try to defend itself. Hulk had thrown himself hard enough against it to knock it a bit away from him. Natasha took the time to get out a thin wire and with outstanding accuracy and skill got it lassoed around one of the wrists of the Windigo. She pulled on the wire knowing she wouldn’t be able to last long against its strength.

“Hulk, listen to me. It’s time for this creature to feel what its own claws are like.” The creature pulled against the wire causing Natasha to be pulled forward though she tried to brace herself as best she could to hold the claw where she wanted it and give Hulk the chance he needed. Hulk took a few deep breaths but his rest couldn’t last long, the Windigo was starting to turn on Natasha and he knew full well that Natasha still hadn’t recovered from the bullet wound not to mention she wouldn’t recover from the claws of the Windigo. Even if it didn’t scratch her deeply, its claws were still drenched in Hulk’s blood which could easily manipulate Natasha’s blood and turn her into something else or kill her from radiation. Considering how strong her body tended to be the chance seemed more likely that it would turn her into something else and Hulk didn’t really want to fight a Hulked out Natasha.

Hulk charged forward grabbing the wrist of the Windigo that now had the wire on it and started to force it back on the creature, aiming for the gut. The Windigo fought back with its other arm trying to hold Hulk away from it and get its other arm free but that gave Natasha the moment she needed to get behind it. Sliding between the legs of Hulk and the Windigo, Natasha stood up on the other side the wire still in her hand. She braced herself against the damaged floor and started to pull. She might not have been the strongest but she was hoping her added strength and the tightening wire on the Windigo’s wrist would let Hulk finally plunge the claws into the creature. Natasha was grateful that she was wearing gloves as she gripped the wire tight enough that without the gloves she would probably be drawing her own blood. She was certain her arms were going to give out before she made any ground as the Windigo held both her and Hulk off for a short while longer. Natasha felt the stitches Bruce had done start to break from the strain but didn’t let up against the Windigo. She started to mutter, “Come on, come on.”

Finally with a roar of frustration from Hulk as his body finally started to heal he added enough strength to push the claws into the Windigo. Natasha fell backwards at the sudden slack in the wire but was back up in an instant. Hulk stood over the Windigo which had fallen to its knees, Hulk’s hand still on its arm not allowing it to pull the claws out. Hulk growled starting to lose himself in the rage waiting for the creature to die. The creature started to become smaller as time passed slowly reverting back to the cursed man it was.

Natasha ran over to Hulk placing a hand on his arm to get his attention, “Hulk, let his arm go you’re going to kill him. We beat him; we don’t need to kill him.” She didn’t generally care if someone who tried to kill her died, but she had been trying to make amends to her old ways and avoid it. More importantly the man inside the Windigo was cursed, in some ways like Bruce was and she knew Bruce wouldn’t forgive himself if he killed someone. Not to mention Hulk already had a bad reputation. “Please Hulk, just let him go. Let his body recover before he goes back and dies. Please.”

Hulk glared at Natasha for a moment as the Windigo continued to grow weaker but with an unhappy snort his eyes became softer towards Nataasha and Hulk let go of the arm. The Windigo collapsed, pulling it hand out of its own gut, waiting to see if it was too late or not. With a few soft whimpers of pain the wound started to close even as the Windigo continued to lose its strength. Hulk snorted again and started to walk away not saying anything to Natasha who was grateful that Hulk had listened and come to his senses in time. She retrieved her wire and follow Hulk back to the main entrance meeting up with Clint and Steve.

Clint looked at the quickly drying green blood that covered Hulk’s body as well as the red blood from the Windigo that covered one of his hands and then to the mess that Natasha was from the fight. “You two look like you’ve seen better days.”

“This day isn’t over yet, Clint,” Natasha replied one of her hands holding where the stitches had broken. She needed to get Bruce back so he could fix them again. “We still need to save Tony.”

The four exhausted Avengers looked at each other unsure if they had the energy to save Tony though none of them said anything about it, they didn’t even mention the fights they had to endure. They started silently back to their quinjet to head for Stark Tower, with any luck Tony had his own defenses up to deal with threats but since when were they lucky?


	16. Bug Hunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group go to get Tony only to learn the tower has some guests. Some of the guests the group expected the others, not so much.

If there was one thing Bruce had to admit about Clint, it was that he was a good pilot. The marksman compliments came without thought but there was something about watching Clint fly the Quinjet that was actually calming. Natasha would generally sit beside him though she was forced to the back after the fight with the Windigo opened up her stitches which Bruce was trying to fix. It’s not generally an easy task in the back of a plane, but Clint was able to keep it steady, more so than most would. Steve sat in Natasha’s usual spot, somewhat confused at anything but not questioning yet. Bruce had started to shoot looks over at Clint, mainly his only fear for the man right now was that he might have a relapse and break down after everything that had happened. However piloting the Quinjet seemed to have the same calming effect on the man, and kept him focused at the task at hand much like how he’d be when he was working.

Bruce’s gaze went back to his work, impressed with how the healing had come along already. He stitched as best as he could, given the lack of materials he had, as Natasha barely moved. He didn’t have a painkiller to offer her, yet where most would be yelling out in pain or flinching she acted as if nothing was wrong she just waited for Bruce to finish. “It’s done,” Bruce commented softly turning to face the others as Natasha got redressed. Bruce found himself starting to wonder about how he had acted back during that incident. Here he sat with the two people he just down right hated only a few days ago and he was starting to remember why he was friends with them. He had to admit, he’d forgotten rather easily how calm they could be when others would panic and that seemed to rub off on him. They didn’t run the first time he yelled or growled. They didn’t turn him over to anyone who demanded his head.

 _But they did leave you alone. They picked an order over you. They let your blood be harvested. They left you to the torture for months. Now they had the nerve to ask for your help after all of that? They’ll leave you again as soon as something better comes along. Don’t trust them, they’ll only leave again._ Bruce shook his head trying to get the voice out of it. He tried to force the thoughts of the incident out of his mind.

Bruce focused on the ground, twisted oddly in his seat so he was facing towards the front of the quinjet, as Natasha walked up behind him placing a hand on his shoulder before asking, “You okay?”

“What?” Bruce took a moment to respond, focusing now on random physics problems if only to keep his mind away from the incident.

“That Windigo,” Natasha replied moving in front of Bruce, who had shifted his gaze to the front of the quinjet, before sitting down beside him while keeping eye contact, “It did a number on Hulk. I know Hulk gets better but that was probably one of the worst I have ever seen him take. I know Hulk heals but you came back our rather quickly. I’m just wondering if it was too quick.”

“Ah,” Bruce nodded in understanding, “My gut hurts a bit but nothing serious, it was a bit too quick he was still healing but I was close to fully losing myself in his rage and letting him just go. I’ll be fine; mainly I’m just hungry right now.”

“Well if we get there in time I’m sure Tony will have some food,” Natasha replied, “Hopefully this one will be easier than the last.”

“We don’t tend to get there in time,” Bruce replied simply.

“Hey! I’m flying according the speed limit!” Clint yelled from the front.

“The sky has a speed limit?” Bruce questioned.

“Yes, it’s called the fastest this thing can go without crashing,” Clint replied, “As fun as crashing is, I really can’t afford any more problems with the Fury Insurance company. Last time I tried to claim something I was on hold for five hours only to get yelled at for an hour straight by Fury.”

“Fury put you on hold for five hours?” Bruce chuckled a bit.

“Yes, and he had horrible hold music,” Clint yelled back, “Now  then if you don’t mind to put your tray table up and lock it then please return your seat to its full up right position because we’re about to land at Stark Tower.”

“If you say “Thank you for flying Hawk Airlines” I may kill you,” Bruce replied as he felt the Quinjet prepare to land.

“Hawk Airlines? Please this is Bartonjet, we are a far superior airline,” Clint couldn’t help but laugh a bit as Bruce rolled his eyes.

“If you boys are done fighting about which airline is better,” Natasha commented, “Can we got save Tony?”

“Please,” Steve replied, “before you two start a talk on packages of peanuts.”

“The packages of peanuts that Bartonjet clearly doesn’t have? Hawk Airlines had package of peanuts,” Bruce replied.

“Bartonjet cares about those with peanut allergies. If you did not receive you inflight snack please take that up with the stewardess, not the pilot,” Clint replied walking to the back of the jet once it had fully landed he shot a glance at Natasha.

“You know I’m not wearing a stewardess costume for you no matter what the joke is,” Natasha replied with a slightly threatening glare.

“I was talking about Steve but clearly he refused to put on the costume so his snack serving ability is also clearly in question,” Clint replied. It was good to hear the archer making jokes again.

Steve just rolled his eyes as he moved to the back of jet, the ramp opening to allow the four off and onto the roof of Stark Tower. Bruce joined them, his hands in his pockets feeling a bit out of place since the other three were in full uniform and Bruce was… Bruce.

“So what should we be expecting?” Steve questioned as they started off of the jet.

“Well considering we messed up their last plan,” Bruce took a moment to think, “I’d think all out hell.”

“The usual,” Steve nodded, “Got it.” His shield was on his arm ready to lead the way through this. “We find Tony first and then get him out. The less time we spend here the better we’ll be.”

“Uh guys,” Clint had moved over to the edge of the roof and looked down, “About less time? Yeah, uh, we got a problem.”

The other three joined Clint and looked down. Seeing A.I.M. trucks unload soldiers which wouldn’t be enough to cause problems for them, it was seeing Ace get off with some strange black creature that seemed to constantly go after the A.I.M. Scientist before Ace pulled it back to set in on track. The creature had a bug like build to it with several red eyes and a rather large mouth covered in sharp teeth. Its body was long and carried by several legs that ended in a few claws. It seemed to be made out of some sort of tech, but not any the group had seen before certainly not Tony’s. The creature charged once again at another A.I.M. agent who was holding an upgraded gun. As Ace pulled the creature back its tongue shot out of its mouth and wrapped around the gun yanking it out of the hands of the A.I.M. agent. The creature devoured the gun before Ace finally got it on track and into the tower.

“Did that thing… Just eat the gun?” Clint questioned.

“It eats technology,” Bruce replied, “It held no interest in Ace or the A.I.M. agents other than the tech they had brought with them.”

“So that thing is going to eat Tony’s armor,” Clint nodded, “Right let’s not let that happen.

“Not just the armor,” Natasha started to point out, “The reactor in his chest.”

“Right, move quickly,” Clint nodded, “But slow them down first.” Clint got his bow ready and nocked one of his trick arrows. He released it with a smirk before quickly firing two more in rapid succession. He had considered explosive arrow heads but that was certainly a public street in New York below him and the risk of what a few explosions, even if they would be small, was not one worth taking yet. Instead he just grinned as the three arrows went off. Smoke bomb, even with the A.I.M. agents wearing masks the smoke would slow them down and confuse them. Next a net arrow, just to slow a few more down and finally a sonic arrow just to annoy them and slow them down even more. Clint turned quickly towards the others and nodded for them to go. He followed behind Steve who went for the roof access door, it was locked but that certainly didn’t stop him from nearly ripping the door off of its hinges. Tact was something they didn’t have time for.

The group quickly followed Steve down the stairs, directly behind him was Natasha, then Bruce with Clint watching their back. “This place is huge, any plan on how we find Tony?” Clint questioned from the back.

“We need to split up again,” Steve replied, “Two of us find Tony the others need to intercept the group coming in.”

“Why do I get the feeling I’m on the intercept group?” Bruce grumbled though he knew perfectly well why he would be. If anything had the chance stopping Ace or slowing down that creature it would be Hulk.

“I’ll go with you,” Steve replied, “Clint, Natasha you two find Tony and get him to the Quinjet. Watch your backs.”

“You don’t need to tell us twice,” Natasha replied heading down the stairs and through one of the doors with Clint right behind her.

Steve looked at Bruce and walked out onto one of the floors and over to the elevator, they had no plan to use it normally. Steve pried the doors open to reveal the empty shaft before nodding to Bruce, “You ready?” He was met with a nod before Bruce once again started to let his other half out. After all of this, he was going to need some major recharge time or a lot of food to at least deal with Hulk’s rather large stomach. During the change Bruce kept control of himself just enough to wrap and arm around Steve’s waist and jump into the shaft. Mutating in constant pain on the way down, he rammed his hand into the wall to slow them down as they neared the ground floor. Nearly fully changed he used his growing strength to kick open the door before throwing Steve through it.

Steve was met by a group of confused A.I.M. agent who were still trying to get over Clint’s arrows from before. Ace was glaring and threatening some to pull it together as they tried to keep control of the creature from before in the hopes of keeping it focused on finding Tony. The agents held up their guns, almost seeming to think that Steve was insane for showing up like this. Him with his shield against their superior weaponry that they made, clearly he had no chance. Once Hulk pulled himself out of the elevator shaft and clearly was not in a good mood, granted when is Hulk ever in a good mood, everything started to make sense to the agents.

“If any of you want to run or surrender,” Steve commented holding his shield up in front of him, “This is your chance.” A few of the agents seemed to want to take Steve up on that offer, they did not sign up for fighting Hulk. However the fear of Hulk matched their fear of Ace, unsure which way to go. If they ran Ace would kill them, if they stayed Hulk would smash them. There really was no winning for them. When none of them moved Steve shrugged, “Suit yourselves. Hulk, let’s show them what happens when they invade the home of our friend.”

Hulk let out a roar and charged past Steve into the group of yellow bee keepers. He swatted a few of them away like flies as they started to shoot at him. The blasts from their specialized guns stung him but didn’t stop him, it just served to fuel his rage. It was only a moment before Ace launched at Hulk, switching from the Tyrell illusion to the bug like brood creature.

Steve joined the fight, tossing his shield, knocking down a few agents with it before catching it again. He charged one that was aiming at Hulk who now struggled against Ace, Steve rammed the agent into a wall knocking him out. “Come on!” Steve’s attention turned to the tech beast that roared, now free to move where it wanted. His eyes went wide with panic as the beast spotted the vent; clearly it could sense the tech it wanted to devour. Steve charged at it trying to knock it away and get it to turn its attention on him. It worked for a moment but one of its menacing robot claws rose up and swatted Steve away with little effort. Hulk was unable to stop it with Ace fighting him allowing the tech beast to pull itself into the vents. “Damn it.” Steve had hoped Natasha and Clint were able to find Tony and were ready for one hell of a fight as he turned his attention on the rest of A.I.M.. “Well then boys, who wants to get punched by Captain America?”

Hulk roared at Ace, her claws digging into his flash as her jaws snapped wildly at him. Each moment made Hulk’s anger grow from the pain. He rammed Ace into a wall and she in return wrapped her powerful tail around Hulk’s legs to trip him. On top of Hulk now, Ace started to get the advantage. Her claws scratching and stabbing into Hulk, tail thrashing around, and teeth less than in inch from his face, snapping. Hulk tried to push Ace off of him but each time he tried the powerful tail and claws dug into him and caused him to rip himself apart.

Hulk closed his eyes pushing against Ace again. This time though Ace was off of him. Steve rammed into Ace’s side shoving her away from Hulk. The claws left deep gashes in Hulk’s arms but he was free to stand up. He turned to the AIM agents Steve had left behind, a large group of them but all grouped up in one area. With a smirk Hulk unleashed one of his well-known thunder claps. Steve fell back at the loud sound that came from Hulk’s hands as the shockwave knocked the agents back and the sound disorientated them. They scattered and ran for it considering Ace was starting to lose there was no option anymore.

Steve looked over to where he had knocked Ace, she was gone and that was never a good sign. A strange growl came from above and Steve looked up to see Ace above him. She leaped at Steve intent on ripping him apart before going back to Hulk, luckily for Steve he got his shield up in time. “Hulk!” Steve yelled quickly.

Hulk grabbed Ace’s tail as she landed on Steve’s shield. He gripped it tightly and pulled, swinging Ace into a nearby wall. The brood let out a painful screech at the impact and that was all the invitation Hulk to start pounding away. After a few punches Hulk held Ace against the wall for a while looking to Steve to see what to do. Steve looked like he had no clue. He didn’t want to kill it, no matter how badly it wanted to kill them. Heroes don’t kill unless they have to right? Shields are meant to protect not kill and after that beating from Hulk, Ace didn’t look like she really wanted to keep fighting. Even if she did both Steve and Hulk would beat her again and again, she’d make no ground against them. At the same time with S.H.I.E.L.D. not an ally, where could they put her? 

“Just… make sure she doesn’t run off. Maybe the others will have an idea.” Though Steve was certain their idea would be kill her and be done with it. His own mind working away he started to wonder if he could reason with Ace, get some information out of the creature. It seemed somewhat intelligent after all. “You up for a little chat? It seems we have some time to pass.”

“Tyrell will not be please,” Ace hissed out.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Steve replied, “Why us? What value does this Tyrell see in taking us?”

“You are unique, like me,” Ace replied, “special each in your own way. You are worth saving according to the collector and thus he will save you from the end of your pitiful world. That is what he does. He saves the unique from destruction. Gives them a new life with him, it is a good life.”

“What about the world coming to an end?” Steve questioned, “How does he know? How will it end? Why not just stop the end of the world if he’s so smart and powerful?”

“Events are set in motion,” Ace hissed out, “events that cannot be undone or changed. They will happen as the Watchers see it and Tyrell knows the Watchers. He knows when a planet will die. He knew when mine would. However he does not just know planets, other universes he knows as well. He has traveled to them in order to save those who are unique like Varou.”

“These alternate universes you mention, Reed Richards said they shouldn’t be messed with. That you should jump from one to another and no one should cross it. It would mess up the universe more and damage everything,” Steve commented. He only grasped bits of what Tony and Reed had spoken about when it came to this stuff but he still understood that it was dangerous to let the alternate dimension cross.

“Tyrell can do it safely,” Ace grinned, “he is good at it and knows what to do and who to save. Make no mistake soldier, your world is coming to an end and it won’t be avoided. The plan has been made for years and now it is about to come together. When the world ends you will be hunted and slaughtered by monsters you could not imagine. No matter where you hide they will find you and either turn you into one or devour your flesh, whichever they feel like at the time. Your best option would be to kneel to Tyrell and ask him to save your pitiful life. Beg him to forgive you and your friends for what you’ve done.”

“I’ve heard enough,” Steve replied. “We need to get after that tech creature and make sure Tony is okay. Hulk, try to knock her out and bring her with us.”


	17. Technovore

“You know what I hate?” It had probably been only two minutes since they were away from Bruce and Steve and Clint was already complaining. At least he was trying to get back to normal.

“When people touch your stuff, when people burn your food,” Natasha started to list off everything Clint hated.

“I mean this time,” Clint’s gaze narrowed at Natasha’s response but continued on with his complaint, “How big this place is. How are we supposed to find Tony?”

“We don’t,” Natsha stated, “We find the bar and we wait for him to find us using JARVIS.”

“So we get drunk?” Clint grinned at that, “Bruce and Steve will be sorry they missed out.” Clint followed Natasha down a few floors and into a room. Clint was amazed that she still knew her way around the tower after so long. The two ended up in exactly what Clint expected, a large open room that was decorated as Tony decorated everything. There was the usual bar in a corner which the two walked over to looking through what was available, Tony certainly didn’t cheap out when it came to alcohol. There were soft echoes of the fight raging many floors below them that Clint could hear, the sound of Hulk smashing and roaring. He looked at Natasha aware she couldn’t hear it, “Sounds like Hulk and Steve are having fun.”

“Good for them,” Natasha commented sitting down on one of the bar stools while Clint continued to shuffle around behind through the various alcohol. She reached over and grabbed one of the bottles of vodka that were in her reach opening it she waited to take a drink. “JARVIS, please inform Mr. Stark of where we are and tell him to come here.”

The automated voice came on, _“Mr. Stark is currently preparing to deal with the other guests near the entrance. I will inform him of your arrival though, Agent Romanov.”_

“Tell him to ignore his guests in the entrance and to come up here, the entrance is covered but these guys want him to show up in his armor,” Natasha stated then took a drink, “inform him I’ll kick his ass if he doesn’t get up here.”

_“Very well, I will inform Mr. Stark at once.”_

Clint smirked at that wondering of Tony would be stubborn enough to risk Natasha’s wrath. He was looking through the different whiskeys that were available, he knew of a lot of them but the rows upon rows of different makes and types amused him. He had settled on one thing in his mind, he was going to find whatever was the hardest for Tony to get because he may not get another chance to try it.

_“Mr. Stark is on his way up now.”_

It was maybe another three minutes before Tony barged in his suit with his helmet open, by then Clint had settled on a whiskey and was pouring himself another shot. Tony’s face clearly showed his anger at being demanded up there, though there were traces of relief showing that he wasn’t alone against AIM, that didn’t stop him from yelling, “Care to tell me why you are demanding I get up here when my home is being invaded? We go for months without ever speaking to each other, no letters, no calls, no visits, nothing! Then you show up out of nowhere with Hulk and Steve while AIM is attacking. Why are you two just sitting around when AIM is trying to take everything? Can’t you think of a better time to-“ Tony cut himself off realizing that both Clint and Natasha were drinking.

They didn’t answer him they just continued in silence with their chosen drink as if both were now lost in thought. Here they were basically on a mission from Tony could tell and they were _drinking._ The next soft comment out of him was met only with a nod from both of them, “It’s that bad?” Tony’s anger at them being there melted away, “Why did you want me up here and not fighting them? Why are you two even here? Why is Hulk back? Why is Steve here? What’s going on?”

“S.H.I.E.L.D. has been compromised,” Natasha stated before taking another swig of vodka and setting the bottle down. “We’ve been branded traitors. Now the new leader of S.H.I.E.L.D. is out after all of us and has made alliances with everyone to come after us. We came here to warn you after saving Steve; we hoped we could make it in time to warn you. Instead we got here just as AIM showed up. Bruce and Steve agreed to go face them head on while our job was to find you and keep you safe. Get you back to the quinjet.”

“Why is Hulk here?” Tony asked, “Last time I checked none of us were on speaking terms with him.”

Natasha looked at the vodka again contemplating drinking more as her mind went over everything that had happened since they were in Alaska only a few days ago. Asking Bruce to help and forget the past, seeing the gamma base, what Hill had told them, rescuing Clint, nearly getting killed in one shot, seeing Fury again, saving Steve all of it leading them here. “I asked him to help me,” she finally stated, “I had nowhere else to go and by some miracle he agreed.” There was a long, painful minute of silence after that.

“So the team is getting back together?” Tony commented finally breaking the silence he couldn’t keep the slight smile forming on his face as he said that, “Why aren’t we down fighting beside out team mates? That’s what we do.”

“They have a creature,” Clint took over now so that Natasha could start drinking again. Clint looked at his shot glass of whiskey, deciding to down the shot before explaining, “It eats technology. A Technovore or something. We’re afraid that if you end up down there it’ll go for your suit and your… well…” Clint pointed at the arc reactor.

“The reactor,” Tony nodded understanding with a hand going to cover it defensively, “Still we can’t leave them down there.”

“Hulk and Steve know what they’re doing we need to keep you safe and get you on the jet,” Natasha replied, “should be easy now.”

Clearly she had spoken too soon. They heard the movement in the vents, something big and metal crawling through them. The clicks of metal claws tapping on the vents and the scrapes of metal on metal as something was pulled through. The sounds were fast paced and growing louder by the second. Clint had been the first to hear the approach, his bow at the ready and the whiskey long forgotten. “We’ve got company.”

Natasha had her gun out and Tony’s face plate closed. The three looked around spotting the vent openings, they couldn’t pin point the creature though so it became a wild look around wondering which vent would pop open with a nasty of surprise. The echoes of the sounds through the vent made it sound like it was everywhere causing their panic to rise. “We need to get Tony to the roof,” Natasha  decided she couldn’t stand it in that room waiting for the thing to come, “we move now before it gets out. Get the wheels up and take it at range. I doubt it can fly.”

Clint nodded, “Tony, go. We’ll slow it down and be right behind you.” Tony was into the stairwell within moments, taking the elevator wasn’t an option. The creature would easily attack it but flying up the stairs, Tony could do that. Clint and Natasha were only a few steps behind him looking over their shoulders waiting for the creature to follow. The sounds of things crashing and breaking informed them that the creature was after them. “Tash it’s right behind us!” Clint was right, both agents turning to prepare themselves for the oncoming beast. It was larger than they expected, towering over them as it got closer. Clint released his first arrow which bounced off the metal body. “Not good.” Tash started to shoot but it the shots were only able to slow the creature down for a few seconds, which was better than nothing.

“Anyone got a plan?” Natasha called out running up the stairs when her first clip had emptied.

Clint shot off a sonic arrow, if it worked it’d also affect Natasha but thanks to his higher tech hearing aids he could grab Natasha and keep running as long as it also affected the creature. On the bright side, he didn’t have to grab Natasha; on the down side the beast ate his arrow. “That bastard ate my arrow!” Clint yelled out the obvious.

“Guess some of your trick arrows count as tech to it,” Natasha replied. Clint could tell she was running out of breath and energy. He started to realize how long it had been since any of them had gotten some sleep, or even had a decent meal. Plus there was that injury, Bruce had only just patched it up and now here they were trying to fend off a creature that was taking everything they could dish out at it. This really wasn’t looking good for them.

Clint was running out of breath himself, his heart pounding and his legs begging him to stop. How many stories was this place again? He liked being high up but this was ridiculous. That’s when it hit him, thinking about how tall the tower was. “Tony!” Clint yelled out, Tony had gotten far ahead of them thanks to his suit but was close enough to answer Clint.

“What is it Barton?” Tony was less than amused at the interruption.

“You need to take Natasha, carry her up to the top,” Clint demanded, it looked like Natasha intended to argue but she was too tired to put up a good fight about it.

“Might as well grab Clint too he’s going to collapse any second,” Natasha puffed out.

Tony rolled his eyes, not that they could see with his helmet on. He flew back down and grabbed them both before flying up the rest of the stairs. Clint hated it, sure he liked being up high and flying but he hated Tony’s flying. Still at least there were only a few floors left. Soon enough Clint was back on solid ground beside Natasha. Tony slammed the roof access door shut. “Great now what?” Tony questioned, “I haven’t had a chance to scan the creature to try to find any weak points.”

“Simple,” Clint grinned, “We’re going to use you as bait.” He walked over to the edge of the building, “If Tash is right and that thing can’t fly it’ll charge at you if you stand over on this edge. You fly up at the last minute and it’ll fall.”

“That… That might work,” Natasha looked completely confused at Clint, “Since when do you make plans that might work?”

“I am a man of many talents,” Clint grinned but the sudden hammering on the thick metal door behind them reminded them all that they didn’t have time for jokes, granted that never stopped him before. “Tash and I will get on the quinjet, get it off the ground so the creature doesn’t go for it. We’ll be there if you need us to back you up.”

Tony nodded, he didn’t like the idea of being bait but if he left the creature alone it’d simply eat everything in his tower which he liked even less. He moved over to the edge of the roof and watched the door, “If you two let me die, I’m coming back to haunt your asses.”

“You’d be busy haunting Steve’s,” Clint yelled back running to the quinjet. _Still not the best time for jokes Clint._ He was inside and in the pilot’s seat scrambling to get it started. “Come on, come on, come on.” He started to mutter over and over again until it finally started and he got it off the ground. Just in time for the door to get knocked down.

The Technovore looked to the quinjet at first then over at Tony who was throwing taunts at the creature. It seemed like the plan was going the exact way it did in Clint’s head. The creature charged, Tony dodged and the creature couldn’t stop. Clint grinned widely as the creature started to fall but then there was a sudden movement and it stopped falling. Its tongue had darted out and wrapped around one of Tony’s legs allowing the creature to hang off of him. Clint certainly hadn’t expected the tongue of this creature to be that strong.

“That’s not good,” Clint stated the obvious. He was considering shooting the creature with the gun from the quinjet but with the low accuracy of the gun and its rapid fire he doubted even he could make the shot. He looked at Natasha wondering if she had a plan.

Natasha had been sitting down in the co-pilot seat with a hand over the bullet would as if it was hurting. She had watched everything happen and returned Clint’s look. She thought about how the creature had flinched when she shot at it in the stairwell. “Open the back door and keep this thing steady.” Clint would probably be better at hitting the creature but she couldn’t keep the jet as steady and still as he could. She walked towards the back finding a thick elastic cord to tie around herself. She tied the other end to the seats in the back making sure it was secure before loading a new clip into her gun. She stood by the now open back door, the wind powerful at this height threatening to make everything harder.

She took aim at the creature, aiming for the head as Tony lashed around trying to knock it off of him. He was shooting his repulsers at it and starting to lose height, worse was it seemed the creature was somehow getting his foot closer to its mouth. Natasha saw its legs scrambling trying to get a hold of the edge of the tower, if it did get a hold then the plan would be out the window completely. The quinjet moved very little thanks to Clint but it was still enough to keep Natasha nervous. She kept telling herself she couldn’t be nervous, she had to push that to the side.

After a deep breath she let all of the training take over. She distanced herself, distanced her emotions just as she’d been taught to do for all of those years. She focused on the job, not the people involved. Gently she squeezed the trigger. After the first shot the rest became standard, several more shots in rapid succession all aimed at Technovore’s face. The creature flinched slightly at the first but then the rapid ones hit and it naturally was forced to give up on Tony. It started to fall its legs scraping at the side of the building, trying to stop itself. It was no good. 

Tony flew onto the jet landing beside Natasha. The leg of his armor was damaged heavily from the tongue of Technovore but at least it was over. “Thanks but next time, faster is better,” Tony breathed out as he opened his helmet and took his seat.

“Let’s get the others,” Natasha took her seat beside Clint as the door closed, “Steve and Hulk should be done by now.”


	18. Shatter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes everything just breaks apart.

Clint landed the jet back on the roof. Despite their recent victory over the creature dubbed Technovore there was no feeling of victory and no celebration to speak of. Tony was ticked off about the damage done to his most recent armor by the creature but overall just relieved that he was still alive. Clint was for the most part silent thinking about how it seemed the game had changed, that creature could have easily killed Tony making this seem like it wasn’t much of a capture the target mission anymore for Tyrell. Natasha was just exhausted from everything that had been happening in the short amount of time. The three entered into the tower again in hopes that Hulk and Steve were alright.

They had found Hulk, now returned to Bruce, and Steve fairly quickly. Soon learning about their recent capture though Ace was unwilling to talk anymore and they knew they couldn’t bring the creature with them. Steve had crossed his arms over his chest and stood as tall as he could while making it clear that he didn’t want to kill the creature. Steven mainly had gotten the others to agree to his way by pointing out that it may talk once Tyrell was gone, despite how badly Clint wanted to ram a few arrows into it. Tony had offered the use of room that he had designed in order to hold Hulk which was kept deep underground. Bruce wasn’t sure if he should be relieved by this knowledge or annoyed that Tony never told him that he had one. Bruce let it be since chances were Tony didn’t tell him because he thought he’d get upset or see it as distrust, it’s true he would. This room was where they left Ace with the intention of having S.H.I.E.L.D., once it was back to normal, take the creature.

For now they remained at Stark Tower, with the full intention of leaving soon. They all needed a rest even if it was only for a few minutes. It allowed Bruce to use Tony’s supplies to re-bandage Natasha, though he was amazed at how fast she was already healing despite her constant activity. The ability to just sit and relax felt good on all of the muscles as was being in the room together.

Natasha, Clint and Bruce had taken turns telling the story of what happened and filling in the parts Steve and Tony didn’t know. Steve then passed on what he had gotten out of Ace but no one really had an answer to what could be coming or if it as true. The group had sat in a comfortable silence, almost fooling themselves into believing nothing was wrong. However each time they made eye contact with each other it was obvious; no one believed anything was right.

Finally Clint decided to break the silence by stating what they all knew but didn’t want to admit. “Tyrell will keep us running. At least until it’s too close to the end of the world for his liking. However we don’t know when that end is coming. Crazy alien creature it could be tomorrow it could be five years from now. We don’t know how soon it is to him.”

“Personally in our profession, the world is always ending,” Tony pointed.

Bruce shrugged, “Seems he’s look at a specific thing so we don’t know what that is. Either way what are you suggesting Clint? We run right to him?”

“No,” Steve cut Clint off before he could get a word out, “it’d be stupid. We wait him out for a bit then strike him when he’s not as ready for us. Right now with all of us safe and together he’d be ready for us to go straight for him. He’d be counting on it.”

“But we wait around and he has more time to get defenses against us or hit us,” Tony decided to argue back, always up to go for the charge.

Steve and Tony each got the look of wanting to argue it out for a while, just as they would have when the team was first together. Natasha however quickly stopped them and became the voice of reason, “We need to get to a safe place and think about this for a bit. We can’t rush in with what we have and we don’t know the damage he’ll do if we wait too long. He has S.H.I.E.L.D. files on us which means everyone we know can become a target to him. However we can’t discuss it in detail here because fact is this place is kind of obvious. So let’s get in the air and talk about it before he sends in reinforcements.”

No one was stupid enough to argue against that. Not only would Natasha twist their arms behind their back and drag them one by one onto the quinjet but it also did make sense.

Despite the protest from their bodies wanting more rest they were able to get back up to the roof and onto the jet again. There had been silence between the group for a while. Clint piloting the jet, Natasha beside him, Steve on his own on one row of seats looking over at Tony and Bruce. Tony had broken the silence to ask Bruce a few questions. Tony was more than pleased to have his old friend back. It consisted of the usual asking how he’d been, where he’d been, how Alaska was, why he never called or sent a Christmas card. Apparently leaving the team like that was one thing but refusing to send cards to Tony was another thing entirely.

Steve had interrupted Tony’s rant to question about the Christmas cards, on if Tony even sent any. It seemed he did, or Stark Industries did and Tony just sent maybe a few personal ones. Steve then commented that he had never once received one from Tony starting up a lighthearted, playful fight between the two. Bruce let out a light chuckle as he watched; it was like it was before the incident, before everything went to hell like this.

The sound of static filled the quinjet suddenly stopping the playful fight that had been taken place. Natasha glared at the screen at the front of the quinjet that had turned itself on. Slowly Steve, Tony and Bruce made their way to the front to look at what was going on. Bruce hung onto the back of Natasha’s seat to keep himself steady, even with Clint’s expert flying he wasn’t used to walking around or standing on the back of a jet. Steve seemed fine standing beside him and Tony was behind Clint, one hand lightly on the seat just in case but for the most part he barely moved despite the light sway of the jet. The group looked at the screen, even Clint now and then spared a quick glance down at it, not like he was about to run into something out here.

The screen was only static for a while, the sound unnerving with how sudden it had come. It was like someone accidently hit the button on it and no one knew who hit it. Given the looks of confusion from Clint and Natasha though it was rather unlikely, they both knew each button on the quinjet well enough not to accidently turn the screen on, at least not without turning it off right away.

Finally Steve broke the silence with a hopeful, “Maybe Fury’s trying to get in contact but having trouble?”

It wasn’t that simple as the static stopped and became a clear image. There on the screen staring at them was Tyrell. Clint tried to hide the fear that crept up on him from seeing the man’s face again; it was like being in that cell once more despite everything. Clint felt Natasha reach over and touch his arm watching him, he just gave a nod and focused his gaze on the sky ahead of him. The sense of just doing something calmed him. Everyone else though remained glaring at the screen as Natasha withdrew her arm from Clint once he seemed he was fine.

“People of the world,” Tyrell started off. A small wave of relief flooded over the group, he hadn’t found them, hadn’t traced their quinjet. This was just him taking over all of the signals in order to deliver a message to the group and anyone else who would listen. “I come to you today as the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. the one who is charged with keeping you all safe. Today I fear to report to you that I have failed in a recent attempt to save you all and must call upon you for help. There are traitors to our world that will harm the safety of everyone. They’ve committed treason against all of us, selling our secrets to others and arming those who would like nothing more than to see us all dead. It saddens me to inform you that these traitors are those you call the Avengers.”

“Bastard,” tony spat glaring at the screen, “What does he think he’s up to? No one’s going to believe this.”

“They’d kill you all without a second thought. I know this is hard to believe, I had trouble to believe it at first too. However my predecessor put the team together without much thought as to who he had brought together. A weapon’s expert who doesn’t play by the rules, a master marksman who was once nothing more than a carnival worker, a Russian master spy, a man who is not in this time, a uncontrolled monster of pure rage and a man who thinks himself a god that comes from another world. It is a dangerous mix that would turn on us sooner or later,” Tyrell’s speech continued on.

“Sounds like he’s getting notes from General Ross on how to make speeches,” Bruce commented rubbing his hands nervously.

“To keep you all safe I must ask that if you see any of them you call the authorities quickly. Understand that anyone caught helping these traitors will be punished harshly. We cannot let them continue on with their plans against us. So I ask that in order to keep your families and yourself safe you heed this warning. Never before has the world faced the threats that have come to light. During this time of danger and fear extreme actions must be taken against all who wish to see these so called Avengers succeed with their plots,” Tyrell raised a hand to his side to invite someone onto his stage.

Bruce’s glare turned to a look of fear and worry as the figures came onto the stage. The imposing figure of Varou made its way on stage with Rick in tow. His hands were bound, his body bruised and broken probably from what they considered interrogation. The group could hear the yells from Rick, his demands to be let go, that Tyrell was a liar. He swore to Tyrell that his friends would show up and that they would make him pay for anything he did. Rick was swearing about how his friends would make Tyrell sorry but if he walked away now it could be over for him. Rick’s cries for release fell on deaf ears and eventually Varou moved in front of him and punched him to get him to remain silent.

“This young man aided the most dangerous of the traitors,” Tyrell pointed to Rick once Varou stepped aside again. “He made sure that they could escape. He put every single soul on this planet in danger with his actions. You see how he promises wrath upon us with his so called _friends_ , those who have sold you out. Today this young man, Rick Jones, comes to stand before you all after being found guilty of his crimes. He stands here to show you what will happen to anyone who aids these criminals and threaten the safety of the world.”

Tyrell gave a brief nod to Varou who moved behind Rick, standing over the young brown-haired man. Varou’s reached around grabbing the sides of Rick’s head as the camera focused on him. Bruce could see the terror in Rick’s eyes, he wanted to cry out but he found his throat dry and no sounds able to escape him. Varou’s arms suddenly moved and there was a sickening crack.

Rick’s body went limp and fell to the ground as Varou let go. “This is the first and only warning,” Tyrell finished as the camera followed Rick’s body to the ground. His body was twisted and broken, his eyes open but rolled back, neck completely broken. Bruce’s stomach turned as he looked at it, he wasn’t sure what feeling was stronger in him anger or sadness. He felt suddenly dizzy and like he was going to throw up as the screen seemed to freeze on Rick for a long while. No one said anything, but everyone did look at the screen. There was complete silence and then the screen turned to static before finally switching off.


	19. Fear Not This Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of Rick's death the group tries to get a grip on what happened.

Bruce stared blankly at the small screen that had shut itself off. Why did this guy have to bring Rick into this? It just didn’t make sense to him but granted by the looks everyone else currently had on their face it didn’t make sense to them either.

Tony turned off the screen, his jaw tight with anger. No one seemed to find anything to say to each other. Clint focused on flying to somewhere safe, back to New Mexico probably to stay in hidden lab there. Natasha had gotten up and placed a hand on Bruce’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort him as Steve tried to make sure Tony wouldn’t do something stupid. Bruce simply pulled away and walked to the back of the quinjet to sit down. He put his head in his hands as his mind raced.

_That idiot kid, why did he go and get caught? Running out onto the test site all those years back and always following me. Always making sure that Hulk didn’t hurt anyone until finally I got him to stop and live his own life. But that wasn’t enough, was it? No he went and trained with Captain America all those years ago. Finally he got out of it and went back to his dream of making a band but could I leave him alone after all of that? No. Could he leave me alone? No. I ask for help and he shows up. I seem to need help and he shows up. He gets in trouble and I show up. But this time… I can’t help him, I couldn’t save him. He got himself killed all because he had to help to repay some false debt to me that didn’t exist but it made him happy. He’s gone all because I couldn’t leave him alone and because he believed he owed me his life.  Idiot. Idiot. Idiot._

Bruce wanted to yell out, he wanted to cry and was barely holding it all in. No one said anything until they were near the site which was when Clint called out, “Guys, we got a problem.”

Bruce had gotten up to go check on this so called problem and to his disappointment, Clint was right. Even this high up Bruce could recognize the movements below them. “Ross,” Bruce growled. They had retaken the military base and had been tipped off to where Bruce’s secret lab was. At least by the fire blazing from the cave where it was kept, that is what Bruce assumed. Ross certainly wasn’t trying to stay hidden, he wanted them to know he was there, he wanted to incite anger out of Bruce.

“We have a backup plan right?” Clint questioned trying to keep the quinjet high enough for them to go unnoticed by the soldiers below them but it wouldn’t last for long.

“There are hundreds of caves out here that Ross won’t have time to check,” Bruce replied, a distinct lack of emotion in his voice, “We can rest there.”

Clint nodded though didn’t like the idea of just searching out a new cave but fact was everyone was growing tired and after what they had seen they needed to stop and get themselves together. It didn’t take them long to spot a cave among the rock formations away from where the troops were.  The rock formation was large enough for them to hide quinjet somewhat and the cave was a short way up it giving them a decent view of the surrounding area in case someone tried to sneak up on them.

The group walked out without a word to each other. On the horizon they could see the faint glow of the base and lab that were completely ablaze. Bruce was watching the faint glow from the entrance of the cave as the group settled further inside. Clint and Steve had set to work finding anything they could burn to make a fire, the air rapidly cooling with the sun down and soon enough it would be freezing. Tony had checked the back of the quinjet thoroughly until finding a container of rations meant for crashes and other emergencies; this did qualify as a emergency.

Natasha was keeping watch in case the military started to move towards them, at least that’s what had been said out loud to the group. Normally Tony would point out that Clint should probably keep watch but he could tell that watching the military wasn’t actually what Natasha was doing. Natasha’s gaze often went to where Bruce was, making sure he didn’t break down and do something stupid. If anyone was going to be able to convince him to keep calm about what he had witnessed it was likely going to be Natasha. She was the one who brought him into this and she was rather confident that Bruce wouldn’t hurt her if she got in his way not after what they’d been through.

 

* * *

 

The fire was going strong thanks to Steve and Clint who sat in silence watching it; now and then they’d take a bite from the “Meal Ready-to-Eat” that the ration packs contained but otherwise they didn’t move at all. Tony was tinkering as best as he could with his suit with some tools he had found in the quinjet and some parts that it didn’t need according to him. It kept his hands busy and his mind off of what they had witnessed and the uncomfortable silence that had taken hold.

Natasha was leaning against the wall of the cave watching the fire now and then taking a bite of a god-knows-what bar that was in one of the ration packs. She shot a worried look towards Bruce who hadn’t moved from his spot at the cave entrance except to sit down with his legs dangling out of the cave. She had been well aware he hadn’t taken a ration pack for two reasons: one: it was still sitting there and two: she had kept a close eye on him. More than anything she knew he needed to eat. The constant Hulk episodes brought on by the current disaster were not being kind to the man, she knew that by the way he held himself, the distant look he got and how his body seemed like it constantly wanted to collapse. She worried what would happen if he didn’t eat and rest properly soon. However she was unsure how to justify getting the man to eat when it seemed like almost no one could eat, granted the others were taking bites of their food but no one had any real appetite. Natasha pushed off of the wall finally and walked over grabbing the pack that had been left for Bruce. Steve and Clint watched her in complete silence but interested in what she was going to do as she walked slowly over to Bruce.

“You need to eat,” Natasha held the pack out to Bruce who didn’t move or look at her earning a frown and stubborn glare from her. “Bruce. Eat. Your body needs it.” When no reply came she forced the pack into his hands, her concern for him becoming a slight panic that Bruce might have completely shut down. “Bruce, if they come you need to have the strength to run or fight and you can’t have that if you don’t eat.”

Still there was nothing from the man.

“Bruce! Starving yourself won’t bring him back!” The yell left Natasha before she could think of what she said. Everyone seemed to freeze in place, more than before, only the occasional crackle of the fire making any sound. A breath caught in Natasha’s throat and she was painfully aware of everyone but Bruce looking at her. Tony had stopped what he was doing to watch the two. Clint and Steve were wide eyed as they waited to see how Bruce would react, both ready to jump in if this went badly. Natasha didn’t realize her hands were balled up into fist from the tension of everything. “Please,” she breathed, her eyes closed for a moment. She forced her body to relax, forced the tension to leave.

Bruce slowly looked up at Natasha and she had no idea which emotion was more powerful in his eyes. Anger, sadness or fear, but all three were there, though she didn’t think any of them were for her but rather what was running through the man’s mind. Bruce looked at the ration pack now in his hands. “Eating won’t bring him back either.”

“You can’t avenge his death if you don’t eat,” Natasha replied softly kneeling down to Bruce’s eye level. “You know he’d tell you to eat too. He’d be yelling at you for being stupid and not keeping your strength up.”

Bruce kept his gaze on his pack, never looking at Natasha. Soon a few tears fell from his face and landed on the pack, his entire body shaking. Bruce’s voice shook with the rest of him as he answered, “Natasha, I’m afraid. More than I’ve ever been. Each time I ran, I knew Rick was there. Each time I fought, Rick was there. He was my best friend; I risked my life for him. I was ready to die for this kid I didn’t know and so he was always there for me after. Now though, he’s gone. This thing we’re up against, it took him from me. A bomb wasn’t able to do that but this guy was. He did it so publically, all to make a point. Now we have to fight this guy? You saw what he did to Clint. We’ve seen only a fraction of his forces and to be honest, look at how many close calls we’ve had. You almost didn’t make it out of the Madhouse; I almost didn’t make it out of the museum. Ross is hunting us, so is everyone else. For all we know they’ll find us tonight here but we don’t have anywhere else to go now. How are we supposed to do this? I’m just so… terrified.” The words spilled out of Bruce, his shaking never stopping as he rambled on in fear. His heart was pounding faster and faster with every word he let spill out.

Natasha gently rubbed Bruce’s back unsure what to think at first, Bruce wasn’t exactly known for letting this much emotion out at once, he’d always kept it inside him.  “I know Bruce. I’ve been through it myself. I’ve lost a lot of people who risked everything for me.”

“But all of this we can’t… I just…” Bruce let out a primal yell of frustration. “Why’d I get dragged back into this? Why’d I let him get dragged back into this?”

Natasha knew where this line of thought would go, he’d blame her for this and in some ways he’d be right to since she asked him for help. Still she looked at him, “Bruce, calm down. You can’t let Hulk out here. I know it hurts probably better than anyone but you can’t lose control here. You can’t let them win by breaking you. Please.”

Bruce glared at Natasha his eyes showing flashes of green. Natasha swallowed back her fear, the fear that he’d lose it and turn on her or all of them. She kept control of her voice as she spoke softly again to Bruce, “I know you won’t hurt me. You don’t want to hurt me. I know you; you don’t want to hurt any of us. Calm down, please.” Relief flooded over her when Bruce’s eyes returned to brown and he looked back down at his ration pack. Natasha kept her hand on his back, hoping the human contact would continue to anchor him instead of letting him lose himself in his depression and anger.

Soon enough she was aware of another presence by her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Clint sit down beside her, his legs out of the cave like Bruce’s, after a moment Natasha sat the same way, a hand still on Bruce’s back as he continued to shake, other than a few shaky breaths from Bruce all three of them were quiet for a while. Eventually the sound of Tony returning to work started up.

Clint was looking up at the stars. “You forget what they’re like,” Clint suddenly broke the silence, “when you’re locked up. Yet you have to be amazed when you finally see them properly again. Not from a city but out here where it’s completely dark and the stars are just perfectly out. I remember seeing them like this when I was on the road with the circus. Back then I don’t think I ever thought that one day I could fly a jet to get closer, to get higher. However there’s always that annoying part where you can only see them at night, which seems to always be the one time when you’re completely alone, except for those annoying stars, they couldn’t let anyone be alone out here. They couldn’t leave anyone alone in darkness.”

“You’re giving attributes to stars, attributes that don’t exist at that,” Bruce pointed out, “They’re always there, even during the day.” If there was one way to get Bruce talking it was to make him be a scientist.

“Always there, but you can only see them at night,” Clint shrugged.

Bruce looked up at the sky after a moment looking at the stars. He could feel his heart slowing and his body stopped shaking. “Since when do you get like this?” Bruce questioned, “You’ve never been one to talk about stars like that.

“Not out loud,” Clint admitted, “but they’re a calming sight really and right now… We need something that’s constant in our lives. Otherwise we’ve really lost this.”

Bruce shook his head, he was still afraid the one thing that was constant in his life he had lost. He felt Natasha wrap her arms around his shoulders and pull him closer. “Fear is a luxury we can’t afford to have, not tonight.”

Clint nodded and continued, “Not after everything that’s happened. If we’re afraid then we’ve lost this stupid war already. They already have us on the run and they’ve already killed…” He couldn’t bring himself to finish that sentence. “We can’t be afraid. Not of this guy.”

“For once you’re right, Agent Barton,” The voice startled all of them. Bruce jumped a bit and he could feel Natasha go straight for her gun, already standing. Steve had stiffened in his fighting stance and Tony looked about as surprised as Bruce felt. Clint was ready to get up when he saw who had spoken.


	20. Take It Back

Fury’s ability to sneak up and basically show up out of nowhere had certainly startled the group. They relaxed when they saw it was him, though they were questioning how he’d found them and got there. Bruce and Tony quickly guessed that he had tracked the quinjet. With everything going on Fury was bound to have tricks up his sleeve for getting around and making sure the team was safe.

“We don’t have time for questions,” Fury quickly commented before he could get bombarded, “Things are getting worse than you all think.” Fury looked at Bruce who still hadn’t gotten up. “I’m sorry about Rick, Bruce.”

It had been the first time Bruce had ever heard Fury call him by his name rather than Dr. Banner. It seemed Fury did actually mean what he said but at the same time it was weird hearing that from Fury, the one man who Bruce secretly hated more than others. He had been the one to give the order to leave him behind after all but this really wasn’t a good time for that. Bruce just nodded then looked down at the ration supply in his hands still.

“Listen up,” Fury addressed them all, “I know Rick’s death hit you all fairly hard. You all knew him, if it was training him, or just in passing from Dr. Banner. However there will be time to properly mourn him later. This creature, Tyrell, the collector, whatever he is, didn’t just take Rick. He’s taken several others from your past and is rounding others up as we speak. He’s started a full out hunt after just about everyone. He’s managed to keep people like Betty Ross close to him.”

The name caused Bruce to look back up at Fury a look of dread spreading across it quickly.

“He will start to kill them off all in order to draw you all out of hiding,” Fury explained.

“The bastard,” Clint growled.

Natasha’s hands clenched into fists, she knew all too well what it was like to have people who are important to you get taken and used to control you. She could understand what Bruce was feeling very well. She could see his eyes go to the odd green of Hulk’s at the thought of what Fury was saying but the green giant didn’t show up again, luckily. Natasha could guess that this information would send it into a blind rage and this close to the group they could get more injured. Not to mention Ross really wasn’t that far off.

“So where is he hiding?” Steve asked, “He wants us to come to him? Can we really do that?”

“He’s chosen an old S.H.I.E.L.D. base, he had it altered,” Fury explained.

“Altered how?” Tony asked.

“I don’t know,” Fury replied shaking his head, “The ones who altered it are completely on his side; none of my guys could get in there. What I do know is Tyrell is in fact in there, that’s all my old sources could gather. He’s not trying to hide from you either. He made sure that broadcast could be traced back but I got my information from a more reliable source.”

“Do you think we should charge in there?” Clint asked, he was actually afraid of the idea but at the same time part of him was trying to tell him to go. If he didn’t face Tyrell now there was a good chance that what happened at the Madhouse would affect him for the rest of his natural life.

“Honestly? No,” Fury replied, “People are going to die no matter what you do and walking into an obvious trap would be stupid. Are you going to do it anyways though? Well, that’s why I’m here.”

“You know that at least one of us is going,” Bruce spoke up though his voice was soft.

“Dr. Banner if you’re going to do this then the others have to agree to go with you,” Fury replied.

“No they don’t,” Bruce stood up still holding the ration pack, “they in fact shouldn’t go with me. Tyrell made this personal for me by killing Rick. Clint’s already been in there, Natasha got what she wanted by getting Clint back. Tony and Steve are safe.”

“Got what I wanted?” Natasha stepped in front of Bruce, she wanted to slap him. “Yes, I came to get you because I wanted to save Clint but if that’s all I wanted then we would have left after. I would have left you alone so you could go back to living completely alone in the middle of nowhere. Things change Bruce, I stayed because the others needed help, I stayed because out there Ross is hunting you. So you don’t get to pull the going solo shit.”

“Natasha it’s safer if I go alone, I’m angry,” Bruce replied, “angrier than I’ve ever been. I feel like I could explode. I want to explode to be honest. I want Hulk to rip out and just rip that jerk limb from limb.”

Natasha pushed Bruce against the cave wall, her arm across his chest. She didn’t care about the green eyes staring her down, threatening to unleash a monster. “No, you listen. It’s not safer it’s stupid to go alone. You think you’re the only one who has to avenge Rick? Steve helped train the boy. He helped us get Clint back. He helped us years ago when we needed him. Not to mention that I kind of want to punch this Tyrell guy in the face a few thousand times for everything he’s done. So once again you don’t get to decide to go in alone. We’re coming with you.”

“No you’re not,” Bruce yelled in response. The others were stunned into silence. They expected that any moment a giant green monster would be tossing Natasha away. Fury was the only one who seemed relaxed.

Natasha didn’t even flinch at the yell, she never broke eye contact with Bruce as she held him there. “You don’t get to make that choice. We’re coming Bruce. Fact is you need us as much as we need you. That’s why you came back when I asked you to. When I went up to that cabin and you told me that you were helping me because of the look I gave you. Well, you gave me a look too. You wanted to come back. You wanted to do right. You wanted the past gone. You wanted those nightmares to end. You think by leaving us now those nightmares are going to end? They’ll only get worse. You’re trying so hard to convince everyone you’re a third wheel, that you’re fine on your own. Well you’re not. You say you want to be left alone but it never ends up that way. Fact is you hate being left alone and fact is now you’re not alone. So sit down, shut up, eat your ration pack and go to sleep because tomorrow morning we’re all going to that base together. Not just you, not just me, all of us. Got it?”

The two kept eye contact for a while as Natasha started to loosen her grip on Bruce. As she did so Clint moved over and placed a hand on Bruce’s shoulder. He looked from Clint, to Steve and Tony who both gave a nod of agreement to what Natasha had said. His gaze went back to Natasha, knowing that she meant every single word of it. His eyes started to return to normal as he pushed Hulk back with the silent promise that all of that rage inside him would get out in the morning.

It felt like an hour had past, rather it had barely been over a minute before Bruce nodded. “Yeah… I got it.”

Natasha took a step back from Bruce letting him relax and slide down to the floor. She looked back over at Fury, “There’s your answer on if we’re going or not.”

“I knew you all would be hotheaded enough to rush in,” Fury replied, “so I came to give you some advice. This Tyrell guy loves his mind games. He’ll probably try to split you up and hit you where you least expect it. Try to avoid getting killed.”

“Well that tends to be a good idea on most outings with the group,” Clint commented, “Anything else?”

“Yeah, the base he’s taken is one of the larger ones,” Fury replied, “Mostly underground. Chances are he’s going to try to tire you all out before making any move. Try not to give him the upper-hand.”

“Anything helpful?” Tony asked.

Fury gave an annoyed to look to Tony, “Yes, if you must know Mr. Stark all information is helpful if you use it right. I brought you all a box of supplies, it’s waiting outside.”

 “Director Fury,” Steve spoke up when it seemed like Fury was done, “We spoke to the Brood creature. She mentioned something of the end of the world coming which was why Tyrell was doing this. Do you know what’s going on?”

Fury shook his head, “I was informed about their belief on the end of the world before and I tried to keep an eye out for it. There’s been nothing. All of the big organizations that could cause it are under Tyrell’s command. I haven’t heard anything from any of our other allies about something else coming. Strange hasn’t sensed any demons, the Fantastic Four haven’t heard about anything either. There’s just nothing. It seems to be relatively normal except for the current situation. Not about an apocalypse.”

“So maybe Tyrell’s belief on soon differs from ours,” Steve replied thinking about it, “I mean soon to him could be five years to us.”

“Could be but I’ll keep searching to see what comes up,” Fury replied, “I’ll be in touch. Good luck against Tyrell. I’ll try to slow his forces down with my own resources to buy you all some more time to deal with him. Figure if my contacts can keep a few of his forces at bay then you won’t have to deal with them at the base. I’ll send the coordinates to your quinjet. Good luck. Mr. Stark, Captain Rogers, Agent Romanoff, Agent Barton, Dr. Banner.” He gave each of them a nod and quickly left them to their thoughts.

Tony and Steve went to get the box Fury had mentioned and bring it up to the cave. Tony was quickly looking through it for parts to his armor, which he joyfully found. Bruce had started to eat the meal in small bites but still better than nothing. His back still to the cave wall he at least seemed a bit calmer, or at least hiding everything well.

Clint sat down beside Bruce on one side and Natasha had taken the other side. Generally the two would have sat beside each other but considering Natasha put herself closer to the cave entrance showed that she was worried Bruce would try to run anyways despite their talk. Clint taking the other side helped almost anchor Bruce to the cave so he couldn’t really think of leaving.

Bruce poked around in his food pack for a bit more eating bits and drinking some water. Natasha seemed content with what he’d eaten and didn’t pester him to eat more. Eventually Bruce drifted off and leaned against Clint. Sure the cave wasn’t easy to sleep in but it was better than nothing. Clint was the next out returning Bruce’s lean, then Steve, then Tony.

Natasha listened to the light snores coming from her team mates. She looked across Bruce to Clint, glad that he seemed to be rather deep into sleep already and wasn’t kicking from a nightmare or something. Even Bruce seemed very peaceful when he was sleeping. She guessed that the several Hulk outs he’d endured were not that kind on him and really did help him ease into a dreamless sleep. Natasha’s hand moved over the injury again, it was almost healed but it was still something that now would cling to her mind. She had almost failed everyone. They wouldn’t be here if she had failed, Tyrell would have won. She yawned and leaned heavily on Bruce who didn’t stir at all. Her mind only flashing to one thing: _Tomorrow this ends. Win or lose. We’re taking our lives and world back_

 


	21. Falling Apart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this chapter is mostly filler and took a while before coming out. The next few hopefully will pick up pace again but we're entering the final chapters after this.

The group had made it to the S.H.I.E.L.D. base programmed into the quinjet. They had each tried to eat another ration pack or finished theirs from the night before but none of them had much of an appetite. All of them had a burning desire for all of this to be over though.

Tony had teased Natasha, Clint and Bruce when they had gotten up. The three had stayed leaning on each other through the night and were rather comfortable doing so, if it meant making sure Bruce didn’t run. Natasha had stopped Tony’s jokes with a simple smirk and a glare which told him that another would about it and he’d promptly wish he had never been born.

Everyone was on edge when the quinjet landed near the base. Bruce’s anger was still obvious in just the way he stood; he was looking forward to dealing with Tyrell an avenging Rick. Natasha and Clint had bother stayed near him to help him keep in control now and then reminding him that he couldn’t lose it yet. Natasha’s talk seemed to stay with Bruce and when it did start to fade she’d whisper to remind him of it, on how he wasn’t alone and he didn’t need to do this on his own anymore.

Steve had forced open the metal door with his strength; it gave a loud scraping sound in protest as he did so. The lack of guards and how easy it all seemed forced the group on edge. There was a long hall behind the door that soon went around a corner. The limited line of sight caused the tension in Clint’s gut to become tighter to the point he thought he would be sick. For the others they were more focused on the fact that at any given time they could only walk in groups of two due to the width of the hallway and even then it would be tight making it rather hard to fight.

Tony looked at the metal walls and frowned as he took the design of them in, “I really hope I’m not right but if these walls get knocked down or damaged then this entire base could come down. Which means no Hulk until we get into a more open space or at least away from the supporting walls.”

“Or we could destroy the base from right here,” Clint replied.

“There are still innocents inside who are just doing their job or at the mercy of Tyrell,” Steve replied, “We need to put a stop to what Tyrell is doing and help them. Not to mention anyone Tyrell has taken prisoner.”

“We already know this is the world’s most obvious trap,” Natasha pointed out, “We go in there and we’ll be at a serious disadvantage.”

“If we stick together we should be fine, just stay close,” Steve replied, “I’ll take lead, Tony and Bruce stay behind me. Natasha, Clint you two need to watch our backs but remember everyone stay close.”

“Whatever you say Capt,” Clint replied not wanting to argue.

The group walked in, sticking close together but clearly that wasn’t enough. Once inside the door closed and a trap door soon opened under Natasha and Clint. Both let out a yell of surprise as they tried to grasp the edge of the metal floor that still remained. A strong gust of wind from the pit pulled them both down stopping their attempt at grabbing the edge. The tight space in the hall made it impossible for Bruce or Tony to grab them before they disappeared down a pit which closed up leaving just the metal floor.

“Natasha! Clint!” Bruce yelled as he slammed his fist on the ground where the trap door was. He wanted to rip it open to make sure the two hadn’t fallen to their death.

“Bruce stay calm, you can’t Hulk out here,” Tony place a hand on Bruce’s shoulder.

“Calm? They saved your tin hide and Steve’s and now they’re gone just like that,” Bruce yelled in response, “I’ll rip this place apart to get them back here. We don’t know where that trap door leads or if they’re dead.”

“Tony is right Bruce,” Steve replied, “You need to stay calm. They’re not dead.”

“How can you know?” Bruce glared at Steve.

“Because from what we know of this Tyrell guy he doesn’t want us dead, just controlled,” Steve replied, “So they’re alive and we’ll find them but to do that you need to keep a level head and we need to find another way down to them.”

Bruce took a few moments trying to calm himself before slamming his fist on the floor again and standing up. “Move, I’m finding them.” Bruce could feel the rage building inside him despite his attempts to push it back. He pushed past Steve and Tony staring straight down the hall. The night of rest hadn’t calmed him down. The things Natasha said played through his mind and told him to stay with Steve and Tony but there was one part that wouldn’t let him.

Natasha had come for him. She came alone despite everything going wrong. She didn’t know if he would help or if he wouldn’t. He had helped her save Clint and the two of them had helped Bruce in return. His mind kept replaying Rick’s death over in his head only he kept seeing Natasha and Clint instead of Rick now. He wouldn’t let that happen, not to them. He’d save them. He would find them just as they went and found him every time he needed them.

“Bruce, we need to stick together and think this through!” Steve yelled after him.

The other man glared over his shoulder at the two, “Then keep up. You’re telling me to stay calm? Well Clint has already been at the hands of this madman and now he’s back in them. There’s no telling what will happen to his mind this time. As for Natasha well… I owe her; I owe them both right now. So keep up or let me find them alone.” Bruce continued down the hallway, turning the corner out of sight of the two. As soon as he did a wall closed behind him opening up another turn for Steve and Tony to take. Bruce looked over his shoulder at the new wall that now blocked his path back, “Hopefully you two stay together and figure something out. Fury was right, this place wants us to split up. Well that’s fine by me. I’ll play this stupid game.”

“Bruce!” Tony yelled quickly getting frustrated running after the man until the wall closed off. Tony slammed his fist on the wall blocking his path, Steve was right beside him. “Idiot. He never listens. He was supposed to stay with us. Instead he runs off.”

“There’s nothing we can do about it now,” Steve replied, “We’ll find him and the others. You saw how angry and determined he was. He’ll find Clint and Natasha then we’ll find them. After that you can yell at him for this. Now come on, they’ll try to split us up next.”

Tony looked around, looking down the hall his tech scanning for anything, “Steve… I don’t think we can avoid it.”

“We need to try for as long as we can,” Steve replied knowing what Tony meant, “Even if it will happen eventually we need to get as far into this place as we can without it happening. Besides, maybe it won’t happen, we don’t know all we can do is make it harder for them.” Tony nodded in response and stuck beside Steve as the two started down the hall. They made it down the first one and around a corner and down another hall. “This place almost feels like a maze if it didn’t just have one way for us to go.”

“It disturbs me that we can get lost in a maze that only has one path,” Tony looked around sticking close to Steve. The two made sure at all times they could feel the other directly beside them just to make it harder to split them up. They’d either have to be pulled apart or they’d face everything else together.


	22. My Own Worst Enemy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce has what he believes is alone time but when it comes to Bruce Banner, he's never fully alone.

No, he had just gotten them back and now they were gone. Why didn’t Steve and Tony understand? They were gone. Taken right from them like that. He wasn’t going to take his time to find them. Sure he felt bad for running off but he was frustrated. After everything they had been through, finally thinking maybe he could forgive them, forget the past and just be around them again and it was just falling apart. This guy already took Rick away from him; he wasn’t going to get Natasha and Clint too. If Steve and Tony kept up and understood, this wouldn’t be a problem. Clint had been rescued just to be tossed back in and nothing was making sense. All he wanted to do was let Hulk out. Smash the entire base until he found them. The small piece of him that was still holding on though kept reminding him that if he let Hulk out he’d have to dig Clint and Natasha out of the rubble. Chances were they wouldn’t survive it. So here he was, Bruce Banner, running through the long dark never ending hallways trying to find the two people he wanted to call friends again.  It was like chasing them down again on that day when things went bad only he wasn’t the one in danger.

His legs started to give out just in time for the hallway to end and enter into a large, dimly lit room. He reluctantly slowed down to catch his breath, bending over with his hands on his knees, he wanted to cry out. He looked around the room and frowned at what he saw, it was like entering a fun house. There were mirrors everywhere facing him, creating a maze throughout the room. He looked at his reflection noticing the green in his eyes, oh how he wanted to let go. Images of Hulk smashing through the mirrors flashed in his mind, destroying them all. It seemed so tempting yet that small bit of him holding on kept putting Natasha and Clint into the images and how if they were in here and unable to make a noise, letting Hulk smash the mirrors like that would kill them from the broken shards.

He took a deep breath and put his right hand on the nearest mirror. He let it trail lightly along the mirrors; as long as he kept his right hand on them he’d find his way through this maze. He turned the corner and kept going though, things started to change as he walked.

_“Why are you doing this?”_ It was barely a voice and he couldn’t place it. It was male and soft, barely a whisper. It reminded him of wind blowing softly past his ear. Maybe he hadn’t heard anything; perhaps it was some weird voice in his head. He continued walking.

_“It doesn’t make sense. You’re the third-wheel Banner; they wouldn’t do this for you so easily. They do it because it’s what’s expected of them. But why are you doing it?”_ It felt almost as if the voice was getting louder, yet still only to a whisper. It was like something perched on his shoulder and just whispered into his ear.

Perhaps there were speakers he couldn’t see and someone was trying to trick him, trying to mess with him. He kept walking the mirrors reflecting each step he took as he moved about the maze, the green eyes staring back at him as he moved forward.

_“Do you really think they’re your friends? That they need you? They needed you before but now? I bet they’re happy you’re gone. No monster to threaten them. No self-loathing ignorant child to bother them. Face it, everyone would be happier if you left, or better yet if you didn’t exist. Your parents would have been so much happier if you hadn’t come along, you ruined their lives. All you know how to do is smash things; it’s the only thing you’re good for.”_ The voice was louder now and clearly there. No longer a whisper it was like someone actually in the room talking to him only a few feet away.

“Alright that’s enough, who’s there? Show yourself!” Bruce yelled and the answer he got was a laugh that seemed to come from everywhere.

_“You’re alone Banner. Clint and Natasha will be fine; they always get themselves out of these situations. You left Steve and Tony behind but you know that they will make it out. You though, you’re alone. You have no one to help you. No one is coming for you. No one is looking for you. Because they’re afraid you’ll just hurt them again and again. They left all those years ago and you know history repeats itself around you. They come when they need Hulk’s strength then they toss you aside like you’re nothing. Really though, you are nothing.”_

Bruce was running again now. His legs protested with each step but he had to find out where this was coming from. “You don’t know me! Come here and say it to my face you coward!” He rounded the corner again and found himself staring right at his reflection, just another mirror. He was growing more frustrated then he noticed that something was off. His reflection seemed to be more relaxed with a smirk on its face. Its hands in its pocket as it watched him. Bruce moved closer and reached out, touching the mirror, it was there but this denied all laws of physics. There he was looking at what should have been his normal reflection only it was acting on its own. It smirked and watched him still, and then he noticed the oddest part. The eyes weren’t his brown eyes nor were they Hulk’s green eyes. Bruce found himself staring at red snake eyes.

“This is impossible, you’re me. No this is a trick, it has to be,” Bruce muttered, there had to be a trick to this. There had to be something, an optical illusion using an LMD to just throw him off.

_“Oh, I’m as real as you or the other monster is. Fact is I’m still you, at least a better part. See, there’s a little devil inside of all of us.”_ It continued to watch as if studying Bruce, the smirk judging him and Bruce could tell this thing wasn’t just a normal trick. _“My darling boy, you’re starting to figure it out aren’t you? Did you really believe a raging child was all you had inside you? No you have the potential for so much more. All of that rage, all of that guilt inside of you. More than you ever considered before. The guilt over how you drove your father to madness and killed him and the guilt over how you killed your mother too, they both burn inside of you.”_

“I didn’t kill her!” Bruce shouted glaring at his other self.

_“You never lifted a finger to save her. You just stood there and watched as she turned the ground red. It was all because of you though. You weren’t fast enough, you weren’t able to get away. You drove your father to what everyone claimed was insanity but you knew the truth. You knew he was the only sane one left, because he knew exactly what you are. A monster.”_ Bruce started to move again, wanting to get away from that. He couldn’t listen he had to find Natasha and Clint. For a bit it seemed the voice was gone yet it came back.

_“You’re really going to go after them still? Think about this my darling boy. No one tells you the truth, they think you’re too sensitive to handle it. You’ve calculated the average times a day a person lies and you know that everyone you consider a friend is far above average. They are in the business of lies. You then lie to yourself about them, trying to make them better. Fact is they’ll always lie to you; they’ll hide things from you just as you’ve hidden things from them. They don’t care about you, you always knew that. Their smiles are just fake and you’ve always been able to see past them, you just try not to no matter what you know is true.”_

The voice was soft but this time like a comfortable whisper. Trying to seem like a friend, whispering softly words that needed to be said. No, these ones didn’t need to be said because they weren’t true. Bruce shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts then kept walking. He had to get out of here, he had to find them. Everything would be fine if he just finds them. He began to deeply regret leaving Steve and Tony behind. Tony had always been his friend after all. Wasn’t he? He had to be.

_“Your loyalty astounds me. Is it because of the guilt inside you? The rage? The pain? Everything inside that is slowly pulling you apart piece by piece. You think helping them would atone for that pain? Would make It all worthwhile? Do you believe they would return the same loyalty to you?”_

“They’re looking for me just as I’m looking for them,” Bruce growled. He turned a corner coming face to face with his reflection, red snake like eyes staring at his normally brown ones. There was a T.V. right beside it kept in the wall.

_“Is that so?”_ His reflection spoke and smirked. “ _You fool yourself into believing some remarkable things my dear boy.”_

The T.V. clicked on suddenly. It looked like a surveillance feed of another room. He could see Natasha and Clint standing in it, facing each other. The sound on, he could hear Natasha’s voice, “It’s okay, the others are fine. Nothing is wrong, just stay focused on me. I’m here for you, I always am.”

Bruce became tense as he watched Natasha lean forward and kiss Clint. For the first second it seemed Clint was off guard but soon enough he was returning and the two were lost in their moment.

_“Looking for you huh? You have an interesting way of defining that. It looks like they’re enjoying their alone time. Not looking for you at all. They’re not worried about you. They’re sure you’re just fine, just as they assumed all those years ago. Just as they always assume. Great friends you’ve chosen my darling boy.”_

“It… It can’t be,” Bruce started to break. He shut his eyes tightly, his hands clenched into fists tightly. “They wouldn’t.”

_“I’m not lying to you my dear boy; I’m the only one telling you the truth. I’m also the one with the best solution”_

“I… why would they?” Bruce looked at his reflection.

_“Because you are a means to an end. You are a weapon and a monster, a tool for them to manipulate and use. You always have been. The moment something better comes along you’ll be gone. No one is going to remember the scrawny little Bruce Banner inside the monster. No one is going to remember you at all. They’ll let those you fear take you far, far away. Lock you up for experiments and their own personal use.”_

Bruce shook his head looking at the screen again, he almost felt like he’d cry at the sight. Clint and Natasha were still together in each other’s arms. They seemed to be taking their time and enjoying the slow, passionate kiss. “They wouldn’t.”

_“Look at them, they would. They have and will again. This isn’t a fairy-tale my darling boy. No one loves the beast, no one could ever love the beast. They won’t stay for you, they will not love you. They won’t care. You’ve always done well on your own and you will again but not as long as they can find you. Not as long as they can betray you.”_

“What about Tony? He’s my friend, he’s not them. He didn’t leave me…”

_“Is that what you tell yourself? Think of all that pain you endured. All of that blood they harvested with your screams of pain. Tony never came. With all of his tech, all of his resources, all of his brainpower he didn’t come any faster than the others. When you left he never went after you, he didn’t really do much. He’s always been concerned about the good Captain though, hasn’t he? In the end what are you to him? He’s the man who goes to parties and everyone loves. You’re the guy who sits in a corner hoping to disappear. You two aren’t the same and never will be. He’s not there for you when you need him.”_

“NO!” Bruce let out a yell as he closed his eyes and covered his ears, the voice starting to overwhelm him. He swore he was going to completely break apart at any moment. He tried to tell himself the voice was wrong, that he could trust the others but somehow he couldn’t convince himself of it anymore. “Make it stop… I want out.”

_“There is one way out.”_

“And what is that?” Bruce opened his eyes and his gaze went to the reflection that was staring back at him as it smirked.

_“Me. Let me take care of this. Guilt does not slow me down like it does you. I feel no guilt, no remorse, nothing. I can deal with this problem in ways you are unable to. I can take the world that has chosen to hurt us over and over again, chosen to toss you aside. Let me out, and I can deal with all of this and they won’t be able to lie or hurt you anymore. Just let me out my dear boy and it’ll stop, you’ll be free from them, you won't be alone again, it’ll all be over. Just trust me and let me deal with this.”_

Bruce’s eyes went to the screen one last time.

 


	23. Lost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint and Natasha have had their own alone time but nothing is going right.

“Clint?” Natasha called out in the darkness. Her head was throbbing from the fall the two had endured. “Clint are you here?” There was no reply at first. “Clint!” Natasha tried yelling.

After a moment there was a groan, “Tash? Who jumped us?”

Natasha let out a quick breath of relief. “No idea. You alright?”

“Head’s pounding up a storm but otherwise okay. What about the others?”

Natasha looked around at the darkness cursing slightly that she couldn’t see anything, searching her pockets for a flashlight or something. “No idea. I don’t think they’re with us though.”

“Bruce? Steve? Tony?” Clint tried yelling as Natasha heard the sound of him standing up. There was no reply.

“I remember falling,” Natasha commented, “But I think it was just the two of us who fell.”

“We have to find them and regroup,” Clint replied as Natasha found the flashlight buried in one of her pockets and turned it on. They were standing in a small room with a hallway that stretched out past it into more darkness. “And of course we only get one path.”

Natasha pointed the flashlight up at the ceiling to see if maybe they could climb out the way they believed they came in but saw no evidence of a hole that deposited them here. There was the dark thought that they might have been moved when they lost consciousness; if that was the case though, why were they together and free to move around? She shook her head; she really didn’t want to think of the possible answers to that question.

“You ready to see what’s in store ahead?” Clint asked, looking down the dark path.

“As ready as I can be.” With that the two started down the hallway, sticking close to each other. Now and then they each would brush up to the other to remind themselves they were together. The path continued on and on in darkness the small flash light barely penetrated a few feet in front of them. It was cold and felt slightly damp as they walked, making them both uncomfortable.

“Guess we’ve got to be deep underground,” Clint commented softly, “it’s the only way this place can feel like this.”

“That’s anything but comforting, this place could go on for miles underground and spit us out anywhere,” Natasha muttered in response. They came to a turn and Natasha ran a hand along the cold wall. “The hallway is getting thinner.” This bothered her more than anything else. The light of her flashlight lit up both walls of the hallway showing how tight it was becoming, they couldn’t continue beside each other.

“Guess it’s one at a time,” Clint looked behind him, maybe it was worth their time to go back and search the area for some other way out. Anxiety was building up quickly in his stomach as he silently hoped that someone would show up and get them out of there. He hadn’t had much problem with closed in spaces until he was locked in the madhouse. He hated feeling like the walls were closing into him, feeling like he was just something for someone else to play with. He had no idea what was going on and it was unnerving to him to think that he’d come all this way for nothing.

“Give me your hand,” Natasha’s voice brought Clint’s attention back to her as he felt her touch his arm lightly. He grabbed onto her hand quickly, giving it a squeeze before following her down the hallway. They both felt the wall rub up against their arms as they moved but thankfully it didn’t get any tighter than it was.

As they continued they could sometimes feel something wet drip on them, Clint tried to tell himself that it was just water building up but his mind couldn’t help but twist it into something else. Each touch and sound became heightened to him as his mind looked for a rational explanation for each but without being able to see it he could never confirm what it was. His grip on Natasha’s hand tightened for a moment.

Natasha focused on moving ahead, feeling Clint tense behind her she started to worry but tried to stay focused on possible dangers. Each step was careful, making sure the floor wouldn’t give out from under her as she moved. She tried to will Clint silently, this hallway couldn’t go on forever, could it? There was another turn then another, both in the same direction. No, it couldn’t go on forever, but it could just go in a circle. She hoped this wasn’t the case.

Another turn and Natasha had to turn away, the hallway widened again and there was a light blinding her. Even with her eyes adjusted to the flashlight she carried the darkness that had been around her messed with her vision enough that the bright room burned. Clint was in a far worse position since he was behind her.

As the burning faded the two stepped towards the room, finding that it looked nearly identical to the one they had started in only that it wasn’t kept in complete darkness. The only way in and out that they could see was the way they had just come from. “Well this is frustrating.”

“We’re trapped in a loop,” Clint muttered as he looked around the room, his panic rising. “He trapped me again. He’s going to win.” He followed Natasha into the room and looked around then back at the hallway they had walked through to get there.

“Clint don’t lose it on me,” Natasha turned to face Clint, “he hasn’t won yet.”

“Don’t you see? This is the madhouse only worse. Now he’s going to kill you and win. This was all a trick, everything was a trick. The rescue, Fury, getting this far, it’s all been a trick, he’s going to win.” The fear in Clint’s voice made Natasha freeze for a moment, completely terrified for her friend.

“Clint don’t say that, the others are probably looking for us right now, they’ll come. You know they will,” Natasha started off, “and we can find a way out of here. They put us in here somehow so there’s a way out, we just have to stay calm and think.”

“The others are probably dead. We’re alone. I’m alone.” Clint looked around frantically for a moment before staring wide-eyed at Natasha.

“It’s okay, the others are fine. Nothing is wrong, just stay focused on me. I’m here for you, I always am,” Natasha spoke softly to Clint, locking yes with him as she spoke.

Clint breathed out as he returned her look with a barely audible, “I can’t…”

Natasha leaned forward and kissed Clint who froze at the sudden contact. After a brief moment Clint returned the kiss and wrapped his arms around Natasha’s waist as hers wrapped around his neck. They stayed like that, in each other’s arms, deepening their kiss and making it last as long as their lungs would allow. Slowly Clint’s body started to relax, he started to calm down. _Focus._

Natasha pulled away to catch her breath and looked at Clint, “We’ll get out of this, okay?”

“Y-yeah,” Clint gave a shaky nod but seemed a lot better than he was, not breaking apart at least.

“I’m real, so are the others. They’ll come Clint, they always do,” Natasha promised.

“You’re right, Bruce is probably threatening to rip this place apart to find you,” Clint smiled just slightly.

Natasha was a tad confused at that, “He’d do it to find us.”

Clint nodded just slightly, “Sure but he’d go for you first, just like I would.”

“Perhaps, I guess it’s kind of comforting to think that he’ll come,” Natasha started to look around wanting to find a way out before then to meet up with the others again. A loud metal thump got her attention. She turned around to face the hallway they had come from to see a metal door blocking their path, “That’s never a good sign.”

The room started to fill with a gas and both went to cover their faces as Clint quickly spoke up, “That’s even worse.”

_What was all of this for?_ Natasha looked for a way out, a way to clear the gas or a way to stop it. _What was the point of these rooms?_ There had to be an answer, something. If she knew why then maybe she could figure out how to get out of there but without a gas mask or any way to move the gas that filled the room she found herself with no options. Her lungs burned crying for air and eventually forced her to give in and take a break. The odorless gas filled her lungs and soon enough everything started to blur as she and Clint collapsed on the ground. She looked at Clint for a moment long as her vision faded to black. _Not again._


	24. Things Aren't That Simple

“Leave it to Bruce to run off right away,” Tony grumbled.

“He was worried about Clint and Natasha, he doesn’t want to lose anyone like how he lost Rick,” Steven replied.

“Doesn’t seem that concerned about losing us though.”

“This is different Tony. You know the three of them were close.”

“I always thought they were sleeping together to be honest,” Tony answered with that sly smirk on his face.

“I wouldn’t have been surprised all things considered,” Steve shrugged as they continued down the hallway. “I know you and Bruce were best friends and all but he loves those two like family.”

“Heh. usually Bruce hates his family,” Tony grumbled. “I just don’t like it. This place was built to split us apart. They wanted Bruce alone, away from us.”

“What makes you say that?” Steve questioned.

“They took both Clint and Natasha at the same time and made sure to take them first. They haven’t tried to split us up,” Tony pointed out. “This guy wants to break us apart again, just like what happened last time.”

“It won’t work,” Steve seemed confident as he spoke.

“Yes it will. Look around Steve, no one is stable. If we don’t break apart from this then we’ll just fall apart after and the world will keep on spinning.”

Steve realized what Tony was talking about then, “You… You don’t think the team will ever reform?”

“We can’t,” Tony shook his head, “When this ends, Bruce will run. Clint and Natasha will leave. We’ll all just go our separate ways. We won’t just suddenly fix everything because we beat some alien who was trying to take over the world or whatever this guy wanted.”

“And what if we don’t?” Steve questioned, “What if you’re wrong and the team is back?”

“Ha, funny,” Tony shook his head, “It won’t happen Steve. That’s not how things work.”

“Tony, look at why we’re back together,” Steve stopped to grab Tony’s shoulders forcing the shorter man to look at him. “We all came back together because we were all in trouble. Bruce could have said no to Natasha, but he didn’t. They could have all went their own ways after getting Clint, instead they came for the two of us. After getting us out we all could have run in different directions, we ran together.”

“Then we watched as Bruce lost one of his best friends. He’ll run again and this time he really will be alone,” Tony looked at his feet. It was a simple fact, Bruce tended to run but Rick had been the one person who wouldn’t leave him. Tony wanted to be that at times, eh wanted Bruce to trust him as he trusted Rick but it didn’t seem to fully work.

“No, because we’re not going to let him run,” Steve smiled. It was that one annoying Captain America smile that was just so hopeful and innocent. “He can walk away but he’s not going to run away from us not this time. This time we make the offer.”

“Offer?” Tony’s eyebrow raised at that.

“We’ll offer to let him stay with one of us,” Steve shrugged, “whoever he’s comfortable around. No more need to run and none of us will force him to do something. If he doesn’t want to stay with Clint and Natasha then you offer him somewhere to stay, promise him a place where he can block anyone he wants out but doesn’t have to feel like he needs to hide.”

“He’ll never go for it,” Tony shook his head, he knew Bruce.

“He wouldn’t back then, we all knew that. However Ross is back after him and who can keep Ross off his trial better than us? Bruce knows it’s safer for him and everyone else if he stays nearby or at least in contact with one of us.”

“He’ll still think it’s safer to run,” Tony shrugged, “I offered him a place to stay before, I offered him anything he wanted because he was my best friend but he still ran.”

“But after all of this? He’ll need something stable to hold onto. He won’t have Rick anymore and he’ll know how dangerous it is to have nothing. He cares about Clint and Natasha and you’ve seen how shaken the three of them are after all of this. Bruce doesn’t want to lose them, that’s why he went after them again. He won’t give up on all of us again, he’ll stay if we make the offer,” Steve shrugged lightly.

“Your confidence about the situation bothers me,” Tony smirked slightly.

“I am Captain America,” Steve grinned and looked down the hallway. “You ready to find the others?”

“Yeah I suppose.” Tony wasn’t convinced that Bruce wouldn’t just run away again and that all of this would fall apart but there was that shred of hope that it could work.

“Let’s do this,” Steve continued down the hallway trying to find some clue at where the others would be when there was a powerful roar that filled the entire building.

“I do believe we just found out where they are,” Steve start running down the hallway with Tony right behind him. He stopped at a door, shield up. He was ready for a fight as he cautiously opened the door.

Then there was Clint’s voice, “Can we agree never to speak of this again?”

“Speak of what again?” Steve raised a eyebrow.


	25. Memories

It was pitch black in the room when she woke up. She was sitting up, her hands tied behind the chair by the wrist, another rope around her waist, and her legs were bound as well. This wouldn’t be hard to get out of any other day but without knowing what was around she wasn’t sure how far she could make it. Her head was pounding. She tried to loosen her wrists a bit, stretching the ropes with slight movements. In her movements she felt another chair right behind the one that she was bound to. She felt the hand of someone. She moved her hand again, stretching the rope so she could touch the hand again and try to figure out who was bound behind her, though she believed she already knew. She was able to grab the hand and at once she knew her thoughts were correct. “Clint?”

No answer came. Natasha didn’t let go of the hand as her head continued to pound. She looked around the room for any sign of light with no luck. There was nothing for eyes to really adjust to though they would try and then the moment any light was turned on she’d be blind for a while. “Clint…” Her voice was soft now almost pleading. She had found herself in dark rooms like this before but this time was different. This time there were others on the line, not just her. Clint, Tony, Steve and even Bruce were all somehow in danger and that frightened her deeply. She had to wonder how they were holding up. They’d be fine right?

“Clint, you need to wake up,” Natasha called out again to him squeezing his hand gently, “I need you to wake up.” She sighed when he didn’t respond again. She hung her head in defeat for now until she could figure out what to do. She didn’t let go of Clint’s hand through it all.

Her mind started to wander, if only to keep her awake despite the pounding that was taking her over. She couldn’t let herself slip into unconsciousness despite being alone in the dark and in silence. She started to talk to Clint, well more herself but it made her feel better to believe that Clint could be awake and listening even if he hadn’t responded. "You know, this is just like that time when Fury called us in about that city going dark. You remember right? An entire city just suddenly off the grid, no one could get a visual contact on anyone or anything in it. So Fury sent us in. We had no clue what to expect. Next thing we knew we were bound to a pole by a chain. We were surrounded and unsure if we’d make it. The streets were lit up by the fires that were raging out of control. We both put on a strong face. You when they threatened to kill me then me when they threatened to kill you. Through all of it we found a way to hold each other’s hands like this. Then they left us alone and as we always did, we escaped. Took out those left behind to watch us just using whatever we could get our hands on then snuck around to find the leader of the group who had blacked out the city. I remember your face when you found that one guy playing with your bow; I was amazed you showed mercy.”

“He was lucky I had other things to worry about at the time,” Clint spoke up with a slight groan. Natasha wasn’t sure when he woke up during the story but she was grateful he did as he squeezed her hand lightly.

“There are days when I wonder how we got out of that,” Natasha replied.

“The cheesy answer is, together,” Clint replied, “the real answer is together by using everything we know.”

There was silence for a long time but then Natasha continued, it seemed best to stay talking, stay focused on the memories and maybe with them find a way out of this. “Remember that time when Fury sent us after that mob boss in Vegas?”

“How could I forget?” Clint gave a slight chuckle, “you pretending to be, what was it? Some big rich celebrity who had ties to the underground or something? You gambling and I had to wear that stupid outfit and work at that casino. You loved every minute of it, always making me run around to get you stuff, always teasing me.”

“Eventually when we moved onto the next lead you convinced Fury to let you go in as my bodyguard instead,” Natasha replied shaking her head with a smile, “Still I miss the casino outfit; you looked cute in it. Not that you didn’t pull off the bodyguard look.”

She heard him laugh as they both thought of how that trip went; she still teased him even when he was being her bodyguard. Natasha eventually continued the story, her voice softer, “You went missing there too.”

“You found me quick enough,” Clint replied. Natasha could tell even facing away from him in this darkness he was smiling. She had found him that time. She used every trick she knew to find him. He had been taken by an underground fighting ring and forced to fight for his life against guys larger than him. Natasha had convinced the owner, who was also their target, to let her get in on the action. She put a lot of money on Clint and the bet paid off and then she of course got Clint out of there after that. Clint had looked up at the people watching him during that last fight and saw Natasha smirking at him, and he knew that she had bet on him and was just watching. She’d help if he was in trouble.

“You were doing fine on your own,” Natasha teased, “I’m sure you could have gotten out and found me at the poker tables.”

“Oh sure until that one guy threatened to enter the ring to fight me,” Clint replied, “He was like a hulk all on his own.”

“I’m sure you could have taken him,” Natasha grinned.

“Well, probably,” Clint replied with humor thick in his voice. “Granted I still think letting you play poker is cheating.”

“Bluffing is not cheating,” Natasha stated with a smirk on her face. She could bluff circles around other players, which she did making people believe she was cheating somehow.

“I loved taking your winnings out for a night on the town,” Clint squeezed Natasha’s hand a bit more.

“I remember your eyes lighting up when we went to see that one show,” Natasha laughed, “it was like looking at a child watching fireworks.”

“What can I say? I love a good circus act,” Clint replied then sighed at the memory, he really did love how that mission ended. Not so much Fury yelling at them about spending the money after. Natasha had been betting with S.H.I.E.L.D.’s money, but it was worth it. The memories continued to flash in his mind as he remembered another mission.

“What about that one mission when Fury sent us to that old hospital? That guy who had that super virus that he was unleashing on everyone there. You got sick during that mission; I was terrified when that bomb went off and that weird smoke filled the room. You pushed me out of it but in doing so you inhaled too much. I thought you were going to die there but we got him and got the antidote, if memory serves we took a nice vacation after that. Dropped off the grid for a few days and Fury hated us for it. But we needed it. We’ve gotten out of some tough scrapes.” Clint looked down, seeing only the darkness but there was a smile still on his face as he thought about how they’d survived this long. It was a miracle really, each time they got close to death they somehow wormed their way out. One day death would probably catch up to them and really let them have it for evading it for so long.

“I don’t know if we can get out of this one,” Natasha whispered starting to feel defeated, they’d get out of the ropes easily enough and probably out of the room but she wasn’t sure if they’d win the fight in the end. Not after how this had been set up.

“We will,” Clint just stated, “We’ve been here before after all.”

“How can you be so calm?” Natasha questioned trying to look over her shoulder at him only to see darkness, “You were a mess last time you were caught by this guy and I was still free to help you. Now though… We’re both here.”

“I was stuck with this guy once,” Clint replied, just being brave to hold Natasha together. He was still terrified of what mental tortures would be coming this time. His next statement was more for himself than Natasha, “Besides Tony and Steve aren’t in here from what I know and neither is Bruce. You and Bruce came for me before, we’ve gone to help Bruce before, I’m sure he won’t leave us alone. He’ll come for us; you even said so in that hallway. They’ll come for us; you didn’t break when we were there and wouldn’t let me break so you’re not going to break on me in here. Bruce will come.”

That’s when a door opened and light spilled into the room blinding the two. “Well you’re almost right.”


	26. Dance With The Devil

When the light flooded the room neither Clint nor Natasha could keep their eyes open against it. It stung like mad as their eyes tried to adjust from the absolute darkness to the sudden burst from the doors. Even blinded though they knew that voice but they also knew something was off about it. “Bruce?” Natasha called out as her eyes tried to adjust.

The footsteps echoed in the room alerting them both that Bruce was moving closer towards them, though his movement was slow and deliberate. He wasn’t in a rush to help them or in a panic, he just took his time as he moved. “About time you showed up,” Clint teased as to be expected. “Want to get us out of this? Or are you just gonna wait until we break out ourselves?”

“Now, why would I help you get out when I was the one who put you here?” Bruce questioned tilting his head. It was a confusing statement to both Clint and Natasha. Bruce wasn't like this after all, he didn't tie them up and leave them in a dark room.

They were becoming accustomed to the light allowing both to look over at Bruce as he entered further into the room.  They didn’t mistake the red snake eyes that were staring at them in place of his usual brown eyes. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that something was very wrong. There was an echo in the back of Natasha’s mind, reminding her of the talks she had shared of Bruce over the time she had known him, the mention that there was something worse than Hulk lurking inside him. He always told her that he could feel it but both he and Hulk kept fighting to keep it down. The chances of such a thing getting out were rather low, but low is not impossible. Whatever was in control right now had to be the creature that lurked deep in Bruce’s mind, a sick, twisted evil that felt no guilt, only hate. At least it was only in Bruce’s body, not the Hulk, it meant they still had a chance against it. The only problem was neither Clint nor Natasha wanted to hurt Bruce, even if he wasn’t in command of it, it was still his body.

“Well you’re certainly not Bruce,” Clint pointed out, “He has manners. If she stuck us in a room like this he’d at least have given us something to read or watch.”

It was in front of Clint, glaring down at him with a rather cruel smile. “Well you are right there. I’m afraid the boy is a little too soft. Me, on the other hand, well, I’m not.”

“Great, so what do we call you? Other than intrusive to my personal space?” Clint questioned trying to hide any sense of fear he had. He could tell Natasha was trying to loosen her ropes enough to slip a hand out, he could feel her slight and gentle movements.

“I am the devil that lurks inside this mind, now free to do what I want, I am what Hulk and Banner both fear and yet all that was ever needed.”

“Sooo, Devil Hulk, got it,” Clint nodded, “Doesn’t roll off the tongue very well. What’s your big catch phrase? Devil Hulk smash? Devil Hulk sin? Devil Hulk polka? Don’t lie we both know polka music is the devil.”

“Always good for a joke,” Devil Hulk chuckled a bit, “you will certainly be fun to play with, Barton. Games that are played behind closed doors that you and Romanoff there are so familiar with.” His face was only a few inches from Clint’s now as he continued his wicked grin.

“Sorry, you’re not my type,” Clint stated.

Devil Hulk took a step back and laughed for a while, it was insane, blood thirsty, the type that would easily haunt the nightmares of those who heard it, “Good thing I don’t care. You certainly are the amusing one here, Barton. I may kill you last for that.”

“You mind telling me one thing before we start your game?” Clint wanted to stall this thing for as long as he could as he felt Natasha continue to work. “If you’ve been lurking what brought you out?”

“I think you can figure that out on your own,” Devil Hulk moved to Clint’s side, “but I will certainly let you hear the story once I attend to one thing.” He was suddenly in front of Natasha, shaking his head, “Now, now. You should know better than trying to escape like that. Relying on Barton to distract me so that you could try to get out of those ropes? It’s insulting that you think that’s all it will take.”

It was Clint’s turn to start on the ropes with Natasha under the careful watch of this thing.

“You really don’t want to make me angry, Romanoff, see right now I like you. You brought me out. What was that you said? It’s okay, the others are fine? Took your time, enjoyed being alone with your archer. Dragged my darling boy out here and left him at your first chance. Oh, it was glorious to watch.”

The words sunk in. Natasha was becoming painfully aware of what happened. She had calmed Clint down but Bruce had only see part of it, they were manipulated and she had known that before but she didn’t know why until now.

“He let me out, gave up and then with my new found freedom I started to wonder what to do. See my boy figured it out soon after and tried to get control back, but it was too late for that. Got him all nice and locked away with his beast. They’ll watch what I do but can’t stop me. You can guess though, it wasn’t enough to get you two into this position. So I met a nice man, he was rather eager to assist me. He told me that the world would end. I rather hope I get to do that, I'd like to burn it all. But this man offered that if I help him, not only will I get to see worlds burn, I get you two. I couldn't turn that down. I can do anything I want to you two and my dear boy gets to watch, completely helpless as I rip you apart slowly. Only when I tire will you die as everything burns."

"Have you seen yourself in a mirror? You're not really world destroying material," Clint commented as he got his first hand free. He worked on the other. His wrists were sore from pulling against the ropes but as he got the other free he ignored the pain and fumbled with the knots that held Natasha behinds his back.

"Oh, this isn't my true face, I assure you but when my little weakling boy looks back on what will become of you, I want him to see this face. I want him to look back and see no monster to blame but himself. When it comes to the world though, well, it can see my true face. I intend to hurt and destroy everything that boy once cared for and when there is nothing left, I’ll remind him constantly of what happened. He will wish for death but I won’t let him die, I will keep him painfully aware of everything,” Devil Hulk chuckled again and there was a brief silence.

Devil Hulk’s eyes darted over towards Clint, knowing the archer was working on freeing them. His voice was like venom as he spoke again, “I question what you’re hoping to accomplish. I’m of course aware that you both can get out of those chairs, if you couldn’t you wouldn’t have lasted this long. Yet, once you’re out, where will you go? So wouldn’t it be easier to give up? Or is that just too hard for you? Face it, you’re trapped and are going to be tortured, tormented and eventually killed by the face of a man who you betrayed all those years ago. Finally the score will be settled.” He moved his gaze again to lock eyes with Natasha, close enough that she could feel his breath on her skin. “What do you think of that?”

Natasha’s mind was working overtime, turning as she felt the ropes around her loosen from Clint’s work though they still for the most part held her in place. She could move somewhat though, she just needed her limbs free, but there were a few things she already knew. If she just tried to bolt up right now and run for it, it was likely she wouldn’t make it nor would Clint, and that assumed that the ropes would break. If she tried to fight, it was likely this thing would be ready for that and somehow she got the feeling kicking and punching right away would only result in broken arms. No, she had to pick a role carefully. She knew each one so well, she had played them all before. The defiant prisoner who got the attention because someone wanted to break them, a good way to get information and get someone alone. The power hungry companion, seeking to be on the arm of someone powerful, it took time but it would lower anyone’s guard. The survivor, someone doing anything to survive, keeping to themselves but doing what they were told. All of the roles that took time, time she didn’t have. She was certain she could get this thing to lower its guard eventually but by then it was likely that everyone would have endured more pain than they ever should and that the world itself would likely be gone.

She kept thinking. She thought of Bruce and what he liked, how he acted and his habits. She thought of how he wanted control, each part of him wanted it in some way, they all craved it. Bruce was smart and used that for his way of control. Hulk had unmatched strength that no one could control. This thing, this thing wanted everything it wanted control. It was pure hate, and having control of the fate of Natasha and Clint, a way to make Bruce hate himself more and thus make this thing more powerful, that was what it wanted. Absolute control.

There was one other thought that sat in her mind, one simple thought. That was the thought that finally pushed her forward, using the skills she had acquired through the years. She locked lips with the body of her friend, even if he wasn’t the one in control it didn’t matter right now. She took control from Devil Hulk and knew he would fight back for it, but she was better at this than he was.

It seemed so simple when she started. Taking control and making him fight on her terms to get it back. She could keep this going for a long time, at least that’s what she hoped. She knew that if she started to lose then there was one chance Clint had to escape but it was an outcome she wanted to avoid. That outcome was hate sex, a true distraction but she had been trained in enough ways that evil this thing would have trouble trying to get what he wanted from her.

The reason though, the one that pushed her forward. Devil hulk made it clear that Bruce would be forced to see these memories for the rest of his life and so Natasha used that to her advantage. No matter what happened Bruce would have this image of Natasha kissing him. It was her own personal hate letter to Devil Hulk and yet a simple thank you to Bruce for helping when she asked. He could have said no, could have left her out in the blizzard, could have run away after they got Clint but he stayed and no matter what he thought of them or what happened when they were split up, he deserved something. If she could do nothing else, she would give Bruce one last thing and drive this monster insane.

Devil Hulk’s body reacted in ways that felt natural but Natasha could feel him fighting for control, fighting for everything. She didn’t break contact and neither did he, he wasn’t going to surrender even as he leaned all the way over her giving him a feeling of a little more control but still not enough for him. Natasha only gave what she wanted to and that was driving the beast insane.

Clint shot a look over his shoulder as he kept working on the ropes and he instantly regretted he did. He had no problem with Natasha kissing Bruce, to be honest part of him was surprised she hadn’t before when it was so obvious to him, he didn’t miss anything after all. He liked Bruce and really his relationship with Natasha was anything but exclusive, she would do what she wanted and he was fine with that because she didn’t do anything stupid. The image he was met with though was Bruce kissing Natasha with those red eyes. Clint felt a shiver run down his spine, those eyes would haunt his nightmares. Clint finished with the ropes but didn’t get up, letting Natasha take lead. He’d move when she wanted him to and only then.

With the ropes for the most part gone it didn’t take long for Natasha to slide a hand down and get them the rest of the way off her legs. With Devil Hulk focused completely over top of her, he didn’t seem to notice. He didn’t complain when Natasha pressed a hand against his chest, getting up and pushing him to the wall. They each were taking quick breaths before they continued their fight. Natasha rolled her hips against his, fighting the urge to smirk with the way it drove him further.

Natasha’s hand was suddenly snatched away from his chest and Devil Hulk broke contact and stared at Natasha with hate and what she could only guess was lust. “You’re giving me new ideas on how to hurt you. Ways that Banner would never be able to get rid of.” There was that twisted grin again, “Still, they’re entertaining.”

Natasha gave an almost sweet smile, now that she had Devil Hulk away from Clint and his guard lower than before, “Tell Bruce I’m sorry for this.” With that her knee went up into his gut and had his body reacted with him leaning forward and dropping his hands to protect his stomach, Natasha head-butted him. She turned and quickly started to head to the door, Clint quickly beside her. Neither of them wanted to be there for when Devil Hulk got back up.  They ended up in a hallway of doors. It didn’t take much for them to figure out that they were still in the base that Tyrell had turned into a maze but they had to be deep inside and thus probably closer to the main rooms. They started moving down the hall, mainly wanting to find a safe place away from Devil Hulk until they could come up with a plan.

“I kind of feel sorry for Bruce,” Clint commented, “I think the most you’ve ever given him is maybe a kiss on the cheek but that creep got all of that?”

“I like Bruce,” Natasha replied simply.

“So you do that to the guys you don’t like and kiss the guys you do like on the cheek?” Clint replied, “Man you must really hate me.”

Natasha rolled her eyes, “You know what I mean. We needed a distraction and a way to get him to lower his guard and it worked. Bruce would be terrified of hurting me and thus would never let me get that close, that thing doesn’t care though.”

“You just wanted Bruce to imagine what it’d be like with you if Devil Hulk won,” Clint stated.

Natasha nodded at first, “I didn’t want him to have a complete victory against Bruce. I know what Bruce wants but I know he’ll deny himself and feel bad for denying it if I even dare offer. I don’t want to watch him just hate himself even more than he already does and I know I can’t talk sense into him. But at least now he’ll know and if this goes south he’ll always have that memory even if it was that thing. Besides, I owed him one. He didn’t have to come but he did.”

“Kind of wish I thought of it first,” Clint grinned.

“You could not have dominated that,” Natasha replied shooting Clint a look to remind him that she knew his limitations well.

“Well I just wanted to show him who’s boss,” Clint grumbled.

“Not you.” They continued down the hallway taking a few random turns to make sure that they kept some space between themselves and Devil Hulk plus staying out of his line of sight was probably a good idea.

“Can we agree never to speak of this again?” Clint questioned.

“Speak of what again?” The voice startled the two as one of the doors in their new hallway opened.

 


	27. Devil's On Your Heels

“Steve!” Clint wanted to hug the other man that was rather obvious just by the way he grinned, “Tony! Thank god you two are safe.”

“Have you two seen Bruce?” Tony was quick to question, “he ran off looking for you two after you fell.”

“Well yes and no,” Clint started but the angered roar that seemed to shake the entire building stopped him from explaining right there and then. Natasha was shooting looks over her shoulder as everyone could hear the stomps heading for them.

“We’ll explain on the way,” Natasha quickly interjected, “right now we need to move until we can come up with a plan.”

“Fill us in quickly,” Steve didn’t argue as the group started to run down the halls, sticking close together to avoid getting separated again.

“Something happened to Bruce,” Natasha turned a corner sharply and started to explain the only way she really could, “I don’t know what he thinks he saw before but he let something else out from inside of him. It’s not Hulk, it just described itself as the devil that lurked inside of him.”

“I like to call it Devil Hulk,” Clint added.

“It has control of how it appears and let’s just say it’s less than friendly,” Natasha continued on, “From what I can tell, it’s made up of all the hate that has ever been put on Bruce, everything done to him. Another split. Where Hulk is his childhood and his anger at everything that happened, Devil Hulk is his fear and hate for the people that made him like that. By the way it spoke… It refers to Bruce as ‘boy’ a lot…” Natasha thought about Bruce’s file, about the childhood she knew Bruce came from. “Devil Hulk is Bruce’s worst nightmare and it’s in control.”

“And Natasha basically decided to knee it in the gut and headbutt it after having a nice little make out session,” Clint smirked a bit.

“Okay that last bit was too much information,” Tony called out, “don’t want to hear about it.”

“Anyone have any idea how we stop this thing? I get the feeling we can’t reason with it,” Steve questioned.

“No idea, Hulk seems a lot easier to deal with than this thing. I guess our only hope is to wear it down,” Natasha replied, “unless this Tyrell guy has a way to stop it.”

“Considering he sent it at us, I doubt he’s going to give up anything he has,” Clint pointed out, “either way we need a plan of some sort.”

The pounding of feet following them reminded the group that despite the tight and sudden turns they were making, it wouldn’t take long for the creature to catch up to them. “Maybe we can coax Bruce back out?” Tony suggested.

“I don’t know,” Natasha stated, “given what we know, it’s hard to tell. He’s really… angry.”

“That’s typical of Bruce though, he wouldn’t actually hurt us if he could avoid it,” Tony restated as he shot a look over his shoulder, the footsteps were dying down.

“He also feels… Betrayed,” Natasha added.

Steve shot Tony a look and despite the mask, he could guess Tony had the same look. When they looked at Natasha and Clint in front of them though, they could tell they weren’t going to get an answer to the question burning in their mind.

“We need a plan, we can’t keep running,” Steve pointed out.

“I will listen to just about any suggestion, right now I’m just trying to keep alive,” Natasha called back.

“Maybe we can get into an open space and tire it out,” Steve suggested, “or at least take the fight to Tyrell. Just, something.”

Clint was about to answer when a giant, yellow clawed hand burst through the wall beside them and grabbed Tony, pulling him back through. The twisted, deep voice was back, “You want to coax the boy out? Go ahead and try.”

Devil Hulk started to squeeze, crushing the armor around Tony who yelled out in pain as he struggled. “Come on Bruce… You don’t’ want to do this… We’re pals.”

“Not working, guess that means you lose,” Devil Hulk grinned. The group got a good look at the creature that held Tony now. It wasn’t in the small, frail scientist body anymore but there was no way they would forget those burning red eyes. It opened its mouth baring its fangs and showing the forked tongue, its appearance for the most part was that of a humanoid snake. Its body was covered in yellow scales, though its hands ended in long claws that looked like they would have no problems with shredding through anything. It stood at least as tall as Hulk did, though it seemed to growing ever so slightly with each passing second.

“Not yet!” Steve tossed his shield at the creature, catching it as it returned.

Devil Hulk hissed in annoyance and in return suddenly tossed Tony right at Steve, knocking him into the wall behind him. Steve grunted but before he could try anything, Devil Hulk was on top of him, literally. The beast had its foot on Tony who lay motionless on top of Steve. Tony’s armor had stopped responding from the damage done to it. “You were saying Captain?”

“Hey!” Clint called out as he grabbed a piece of the now destroyed the wall and tossed it at Devil Hulk’s head. “You forgetting about someone?” Devil Hulk let out a low growl as he glared at Clint. “Bet’cha can’t catch me.” With that he and Natasha were running down the hall again.

Natasha shot a look over at Clint as they turned a corner together, they were unarmed and without a plan. They needed an armory and fast. They kept running, turning the next corner together before shooting each other a look, they couldn’t stay together. They had already done one thing they never wanted to do, leave Tony and Steve behind with the trust that Devil Hulk won’t touch them yet. It seemed likely it wouldn’t do anything, not when it wanted to torment them and the best way for that was for them to be in the same room and watching. Now they had to do one more thing they didn’t want to do, they had to split up. There was no way they could cover enough ground together and the risk of being caught now was too high. They stared at each other for a moment longer as the hallway split into two directions. With a nod Clint went straight and Natasha took the next right. _Stay safe._

Devil Hulk continued to growl where he was, stepping off of Steve and Tony. He grabbed Steve and slammed him hard into the wall, causing him to drop his shield as he gritted his teeth in pain. It wasn’t as fun without an audience, Devil Hulk had to admit that much but he needed Steve to not cause him trouble. He hit Steve against the wall again, this time knocking him out. _Perfect._ With that Devil Hulk picked up Tony, “Well your friends abandoned you two. How does that make you feel?”

“Like they’re going to kick your scaly yellow ass,” Tony responded, even without being able to see it, it was easy to tell he was smirking.

“Is that so? Do you think they can do it before I rip you in half?” Devil Hulk questioned.

There was a short wave of panic through Tony before he was able to get out, “Where’s the fun in that?”

“Where’s the fun indeed,” Devil Hulk grinned, “Come along children, it’s time to play hide and seek.” Devil Hulk dropped Steve to the ground beside Tony before grabbing one of their legs in each hand and dragging them along the ground behind him. Tony tried to kick at the clawed hand that held him but the damage to the armor was causing it to leak more and more energy with every movement, he didn’t have a lot to waste. He found himself in a situation where he had to rely only on Clint and Natasha.

Devil Hulk moved through the halls with a grin on his face as he called out, “come out, come out wherever you are….” He reached the section where Natasha and Clint had split up. He sniffed the air for a moment, shooting a glance down to the right hallway for a moment but saw nothing much of interest, the smells didn’t intrigue him enough to push him forward. He continued on straight.

He could smell the fear, it was so sweet and welcoming to him. He loved the hunt but his mind worked away at how he would punish the two assassins for this. He wanted them to suffer, he’d let them suffer for years that was his promise. He could come up with so many things over those years and if he ever became bored, well then, they’d have no further use and would be disposed of. Until then though, the smell of fear just made him excited at the thought of what he could do to draw that smell out more.

“Now, now,” Devil Hulk called out as he stopped at a door, “it’s not very wise to keep running like this, is it? There’s nowhere for you to really go. I can chase you for days but unlike you I don’t get hungry, I don’t need water. Give up now and maybe I’ll feed you once in a while.”

Nothing, of course. He expected that and it only meant the hunt would be that much more thrilling. “I have your friends already. I can play with them until I find you.” He kicked open the door and found the room empty so he went to the next and did the same. Empty.

He came to a third room, and he could smell a new wave of fear coming from inside. He considered kicking the door open as he had the others but since he knew what he would find inside, he decided he wanted the door intact. He shifted Tony over to the same hand he was holding Steve’s leg in before gently grabbing the nob of the door and pushing it open just a crack. He peaked in as the thin ray of light from the hallway entered the dark room.

Clint saw the door open a crack, instincts caused him to glance over and he saw the edge of the grin and the red eye before the voice came, “Found you.” Before Clint could move the door was flung open and he was pinned by the unconscious body of Steve and the unmovable form of Tony.

“I really am not enjoying getting tossed around,” Tony muttered.

Devil Hulk stepped into the room, looking around, searching for the missing member. She was better at controlling the scent of fear, better at hiding, he didn’t want to waste time. “One missing… However, I tire of hide and seek. I think it’s time she came and found us. I wonder how much noise you three have to make before she comes. Let us _begin._ ”

Natasha had found where the weapons were stored, she was just started to get what she needed when the screams started. _Tony?_ That made her move faster as she found Clint’s bow and arrows tucked away in the room near a few of her knives and guns. Another scream came. _Steve?_ No, no, no this couldn’t be happening, not now. Despite her thoughts she didn’t hesitate as she loaded the gun in her hand and started checking what else was available to her. _Smoke Grenade, Widow’s Bites, array of knives, wire._

She was putting the wire in one of her pockets when she felt something else in there. Something that she didn’t expect to find in one of her pockets, it felt glossy to her touch but was paper thin. Carefully she pulled it out to look at it seeing the picture. She remembered finding it at that base when this had all started, when she was with Hulk. It seemed like ages ago. Then came another scream. _Clint._ She tucked the picture back into her pocket and ran down the hallway towards the screams. She had no plan but she also had no intention of abandoning the others.

She was nearing the turn that had separated her and Clint when she heard footsteps and quickly ducked into the closest room. She took a peak out into the hallway and saw the intimidating form of Varou with a few guards dressed up in SHIELD gear walking down towards the screams. She waited for them to pass before following silently. They passed the door Devil Hulk had broken down in his search for them though when Varou stopped by an open door, Natasha ducked into a room again, hiding behind the door that was falling off of its hinges, barely holding on from the force it had endured. She listened carefully.

“The master would like to see you,” Varou’s voice that was becoming far too familiar for her taste started.

“Tell him I’m busy.”

“You are to bring those three to him; he’d like to discuss how you are treating his property.”

“Too bad, I’m not done.” There was another yell, it sounds like Steve.

“It isn’t a request. He’s offered you a lot and helped you get your freedom, now I suggest playing nicely before we have to drag you there.”

There was a hiss from Devil Hulk before she heard footsteps again. She glanced through a crack to watch Varou walk out with the guards and Devil Hulk following as well as the bloodied forms of her friends. _Hang on, I’m coming._


End file.
